


Behind Enemy Lines

by Obliterwrite



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-14 05:23:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19266694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Obliterwrite/pseuds/Obliterwrite
Summary: Inklings are cold, cruel, and selfish creatures, at least that's what the Octarians tell each other, but when an Octoling finds herself in Inkopolis things are much different from what she expected.





	1. Intruder in Inkopolis

**Splatoon: Behind enemy lines**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Splatoon, however the OCs are mine._

_This story was originally posted to fanfiction under the same name, I am going to be bringing my splatoon stories over here over the next month or so._

_It was the first story I completed and I haven't changed anything since it's completion so it may still have mistakes._

* * *

In the middle of nowhere stood one Octoling, all other Octarians in the area had long been splatted, and this one was the last survivor, she had been separated from her unit, and was now lost, the only thing left to do was to survive.

**Unknown location, Octoling's P.O.V**

My name is Victoria, I chose that name because it was synonymous with victory, at that time victory against the inklings seems inevitable, and I was eager to have my first taste of action, but this, this was a disaster. Separated from the army, no ink, no rations, and no idea where I am, I should have paid more attention to things other than combat. Yes, daydreaming about fighting off armies of inklings during navigation training was definitely a mistake, I shouldn't have assumed that there would always be someone to follow after each battle..

Someone moving on the ground catches my attention, it is a primitive life form, likely a crab due to its pincers and way of walking. I have eaten crab before, and enjoyed it, however this time it was uncooked and alive, how does one eat an uncooked crab? Its shell is way to hard, maybe if I split it open?

"…" The crab stood still, having no idea what was coming, I bring down my Octoshot on it with as much force as I can muster, this was survival, it wasn't pretty, nor delicious, but it was what needed to be done.

The only thing I can recall from navigational training was that some kettles provided an underground route between Octarian territories, or something like that. Finding one of these "kettles" would probably be the best course of action, returning to Octo valley as a defeated soldier would be embarrassing, but it would definitely be better than starving out here, or being found by inklings.

Inklings….. From what I have heard of them they are selfish, cruel, and would never do anything unless it benefited themselves, that is why they took away all the Octarian's zapfish long ago, however the Octarian army, under the leadership of DJ Octavio, retrieved every single zapfish, the inklings were not happy with this, and begun exterminating every Octarian standing between them and the zapfish. That is why we fight, everyday dozens and dozens of Octarians become soldiers, there is no way we could lose to the inklings, once I get back to Octo valley, I am going right back to the frontlines to make up for my failure here.

I must have been wandering around while lost in thought because I tripped over one of the kettles I was looking for, I transformed into octopus form and swam into the kettle, hopefully towards civilization.

* * *

**Blackbelly skatepark**

Eight inklings were having fun with a round of turf war, one team was doing better than the other, with a charger occupying the center platform and a Slosher, a Roller, and a Spattershot pushing back the other team. This team was made up of four friends; Kalus, Inker, Neon, and Sky. Kalus, or Kal as everyone seem to call him, had known Inker for a long time, the two were best friends, such good friends that Inker's trusted Kal with his secret; that he was Agent 3, the agent who had recently recovered the Great Zapfish and imprisoned DJ Octavio. Neon on the other hand, used to poke fun at Inker's name, but that was during her first match alongside him and Kal, after seeing Inker splat countless inklings in a single match the competitive side of Neon had shown up, now seeing Inker as a rival and good example to follow. Sky was the one they had met recently, he was the youngest of the group (he is 13 everyone else is 15) and the lowest level, but he made up for it by being a good team player, obtaining a Roller as soon as he was fresh enough, and using it to lead the way or to set up other inklings for Kal, Inker, or Neon to splat.

The four of them had covered 60% of the map, Sky used his roller to force enemy inklings into Kal's Slosher, Inker used his Splattershot Pro on anyone that avoided Kal and Sky, while Neon occupied the center platform with her Splatterscope. Realizing that time was running out, Kal and Inker decided to use their Inkstrikes, both of them got behind the center platform, and chose their target.

"Long range ballistics!" they shouted in unison, just as they had done in every previous match whenever they used their Inkstrikes together.

They won the match, with 67% of the map covered.

"Great job guys!" Inker shouted at his friends as they walked out of Inkopolis Tower.

All four of them had another fun day, and had reverted back to their original colors; Kalus was red, Inker was blue, Neon was bright green, and Sky was cyan.

"How lucky are we to be able to fight as a team today!" Kal asked the others

"About time too, I was getting tired of splatting you all day" Neon replied

"More like you were getting tired of being splatted by me!" Inker said.

Sky didn't talk as much as the others, but he clearly had fun.

"So, we got an hour before sundown, so what now?" Inker happily asked

Unfortunately just as he spoke, Inker got a message from Cap'n Cuttlefish, informing him about Octarian activity, kinda strange considering that he recently captured DJ Octavio and returned the Great Zapfish with the aid of agents 1 and 2, however if there was Octarians then there was trouble.

"Sorry guys but I gotta go, stay fresh!" Inker said to his friends as he ran off to see Cap'n Cuttlefish, this wasn't the first time that Inker had to leave in a hurry.

"What's up with him?" Neon asked "he has been running off like that alot recently."

Sky was probably about to ask the same thing, because both he and Neon looked at Kal, expecting an answer.

"Hey don't look at me, if I knew I would tell you guys, maybe its something he doesn't want to talk about." This was a straight up lie, Kalus knew the reason why Inker ran off like that, because Agent 3 was needed for something. In order not to draw suspicion Kalus decided to change the subject as soon as possible.

"Hey Sky, you just reached level 4!"

Neon was confused as to why he would bring up level all of a sudden, but then she remembered: Spyke.

"Oh yeah that's right, you liked that jacket that was worn by one of inklings we saw earlier right?"

"Yeah"

"Well now that you are level 4 there is someone that can help you get a jacket like that one, come on let's go."

* * *

Kalus and Neon went to go introduce Sky to Spyke, meanwhile Inker was meeting with the Cap'n.

"What's wrong cap'n?"

"OCTARIANS SNUCK INTO INKOPOLIS WHILE I WAS EATING MY CRABBY CAKES, AND NOW I'M OUT OF CRABBY CAKES AND CAN'T FIND THE OCTARIANS!"

Octarians in Inkopolis was bad news, either they were here to free DJ Octavio, or they were here to steal some more Zapfish.

"Don't worry Cap'n, i'll go find the Octarians before anyone gets hurt…..and i'll get you some more crabby cakes."

"Oh don't worry, I have already sent Agents 1 and 2 to go get me some crabby cakes, you just worry about the intruders."

"How many were there? And what kind of Octarians were they?"

"How can I know bucko!? I was too focused on my Crabby cakes to see anything!"

"Alright, i'll go make sure all the Zapfish are safe, then i'll look around inkopolis plaza."

Inker was just about to run off when he remembered something else.

"The snow globe containing DJ Octavio is safe right?"

"Yeppers, there's no way he will ever make it out of there." replied Cap'n Cuttlefish.

* * *

**Inkopolis, Victoria's P.O.V**

I find myself in an unfamiliar place, at first I am worried, however the sight of the Great Zapfish lighting up the darkened underground city assures me that this is Octarian territory, but the area seems way too different from Octo Valley. I am surrounded by unfamiliar sights, the buildings do not look like anything my people have constructed in the past.

This has to be Octarian territory, the Great Zapfish is here, so DJ Octavio shouldn't be too far...

Since I was tried from my journey, I decided to find someone to talk to. It was already getting dark so the most logical thing that Octarians would do was head home, but there weren't anything that resembled an Octarian kettle home, I wonder why?

I found my answer soon enough as I spotted some people approaching, I ran towards them expecting to see some friendly faces, but instead they turned out to be inklings.

I wasn't home, nor was I still underground, I was in enemy territory. Out of instinct I raise my empty Octoshot at the group of inklings, a mistake as they were already panicking when they saw me, raising a weapon at them didn't help calm them down either.

"OCTARIANS IN INKOPOLIS! OCTARIANS IN INKOPOLIS HELP!" the panicked inklings ran in different directions, screaming at the top of their lungs. I panicked too, I was behind enemy lines without a working weapon, I dropped my Octoshot and ran. in the distance I see armed inklings already searching for me, so I thought to hide between some buildings.

I ran through an alleyway, too busy looking backwards to see where I was going, I tripped over somebody who happened to be sitting in the alleyway.

"Whoa, careful there mate, EH?! AN OCTOLING?"

I don't know what creature this was, but since he had just alerted my pursuers I had to run again.

I couldn't run forever, I was starving and tired, the raw crab I ate didn't help either since my stomach hurt from it, the best thing to do was hide, there were lots of buildings here, one of them has to be open.

I ran towards to closest building and tried the door, I could see the occupants inside, a girl... with a clownfish in her hair? Upon seeing me the clownfish had fainted and the girl quickly disappeared from sight. I couldn't hide here. I tried more doors, but they were all locked, the entire city must have been on alert.

Luckily there were other buildings with open windows, maybe I could climb into one of them and hide inside.

I ran towards an open window, but I must have been spotted because an inkling popped up opened fire from his window.

I ducked, narrowly avoiding a shot from what appeared to be a high caliber weapon, and ran for another building, this one also had an open window, and luckily there were no lights on, making it look empty. I quickly leap inside, it seemed that nobody saw me duck inside here, I had lost my pursuers, I was safe, for now…..

* * *

**Sky's home**

"Apparently there are Octarians in inkopolis, who knows what they are planning?"

"Oh my, that is quite worrisome, the Great Turf Wars have long ended, could the Octarians be starting a new Great Turf War?"

"Until we hear that inkopolis is safe from Octarian forces all inklings should be careful, there is no telling where they could be hiding, stay safe, and stay fresh!"

Kalus and Neon were in Sky's house, they had just gotten there when they saw the Squid Sisters report on Octarians in Inkopolis. Neon wasted no time grabbing her Splatterscope and heading back out.

"Where are you going?" asked Kalus

"I'm going to help fight off the Octarians"

"Are you crazy, if you get splatted outside of organized matches you get spatted for good!"

"Don't worry! I won't be the only one!" Neon pointed to dozens of other inklings who were all on the lookout for Octarians. "You guys should come too!"

Sky was less than eager to go "No way, i'm just getting started with Turf Wars, I hear the Octarians have a huge army, and show no mercy when dealing with inklings"

Kalus agreed "We should leave this to the authorities, let them figure it out."

However Neon, who enjoyed fighting more than anything was practically hopping with excitement at the thought of real combat, so she didnt care if her friends weren't going to accompany her.

"Fine, you two can go hide in your homes while I go and defend mine!" and with that Neon charged outside.

Kalus couldn't help but worry, Neon might be a great shot, but she has never fought any Octarians before, in fact out of everyone he knew, only Inker had real combat experience, all this thinking made Kalus forget that he was still in Sky's home.

"Umm Kal, you should probably go home quick, I don't have any extra sheets or anything for you to rest on if you stay." Sky said.

"Oh right, I almost forgot, well see you tomorrow!"

Kalus left and headed home, as he walked back inklings of all colours welding all kinds of weapons asked him if he had seen any Octarians,he hadn't, and apparently nobody else had seen any either.

Kalus, was beginning to wonder if this entire thing was a prank, it was common knowledge that anyone who raised a false alarm would be severely punished, but that didn't stop some people from doing it in the past.

_'Maybe everyone who has seen the Octarians have been splatted before they could alert the rest of us?'_  Kalus wondered, after all the inklings knew the Octarians as a race of heartless beings who lived only to cause trouble for the inklings, if you saw an Octarian you had to either splat them quickly or be splatted quickly.

_'Oh well, until someone learns of something, im in the dark, I hope Neon is okay, and what about Inker? Is he also out there fighting?'_

A lack of knowledge can make one nervous, and when someone is nervous they tend to only focus on what is on their mind and not recall the past, this is the reason why Kal went home, closed his window, and headed upstairs to use the washroom, not recalling that he had left the washroom lights off when he last left home.

* * *

**Kalus' home, Victoria's P.O.V**

The first thing I did when I entered this building was make sure that nobody was here, since it was night time by now I assumed that whoever lived here would be in bed, I may not have a weapon but I might be able to catch the Inkling off guard and smother him in his sleep.

Luckily for me there was nobody home, feeling relieved I looked for the restroom, I was filthy, and covered in ink that wasn't mine. The inkling who lived here had an option on his sink that allowed you to choose your colour of ink, I chose the Octarian army's colour: dark magenta, and refilled my tank before removing my goggles, and washing my hands, and my face.

I could finally relax, even though I was still hungry, there was no vicious inkling chasing me at the moment, I could probably hide in here somewhere and escape early the next morning. But what worried me more was the sight of the Great Zapfish, it was displayed on top of a large tower, probably as a trophy symbolizing the inklings victory over us. I really didn't want to believe that my people had lost but it was the only explanation I could think of, after all DJ Octavio himself had always kept the Great Zapfish close by him, does that mean he was defeated too?

Oh well, i'll worry about that later, right now I need a place to stay the night.

I got up and stretched, but before I could do anything else the sound of somebody dropping something caught my attention.

A red inkling boy stood in the doorway, his eyes wide with shock and fear, he had dropped some sort of bucket upon seeing me.

Time to go! I told myself, I tried to open the restroom window, but then realized I wouldn't be able to climb out of it.

The inkling had run off, leaving his bucket on the ground, full of red ink.

"Inker you there? Help! There is an Octoling in my house!" I heard him say.

That was problematic, the coward had called for help, luckily he seem to only call one other inkling, if I had a weapon I could definitely beat two inklings.

I picked up the bucket that had dropped on the ground, it nearly spilled on me so I would need to be careful, it appeared to be some sort of weapon if the other Inkling was not red then I could use this to splat him.

Unfortunately, the red inkling had come back for his weapon.

I knew I couldn't harm him with his own ink, and he seemed to know it too.

The red inkling pounced on me, making me spill red ink out of the Slosher, most of it went on the ground, but some of it hit me.

I felt a burning sensation, and knew that I had been hit.

The red inkling quickly hid inside the red ink I had spilled, that was not good, I had to do something to even the odds.

I quickly ran downstairs, detached my ink tank, and poured my dark magenta ink all over the living room, now it was my turn to hide.

The inkling soon came downstairs, nervously clutching his bucket, he looked like he never fought before, meaning that he was an easy target.

As soon as he got close enough I grabbed his leg and dragged him into my ink, the red inkling screamed either in pain or in fear. This was my chance, while he was flailing about I got out of Octopus form and ran for the door, unlocked it, and ran outside.

However someone was there, I ran face first into him and fell on my back, I looked up to see the nightmare of many Octarians.

Ever since my people took the Great Zapfish, there had been rumors of an unstoppable blue inkling wearing black and yellow, and welding a futuristic looking Octoshot. This inkling was responsible for many of the Octarians' defeats, no matter how many Octarians attacked him, no matter what weapon or tactic you used, he would always find a way to splat you. The higher ups had declined the existence of such an inkling but the rumors kept spreading with every Zapfish we lost. A male blue inkling, known as Agent 3, capable of splatting everything within 50 units of range, it didn't matter if you fought him or pled for you life, this inkling was a monster who enjoyed splatting every Octarian he saw...

...And he stood here, right in front of me, the most dangerous and evil inkling known to us, dressed in his signature black and yellow, holding his special weapon in his hands.

I sure that I could definitely beat two inklings, but what if the second was Agent 3? Who knows what tricks, bombs, or other things he had up his sleeve?

Filled with fear I could barely find the strength to get up, I ran back inside, Agent 3 followed and locked the door, trapping me inside.

The only thing I could do now was to try and force my way out using the red inkling as a hostage.

He had just gotten back up, and seemed to hurt from being pulled into my ink, I grabbed his Slosher, maybe I could bluff my way out.

With one arm clutching the Slosher and another holding the red inkling I shouted at Agent 3: "Let me go or this guy gets it!"

What was I thinking, Agent 3 fought my people dozens of times by now, he had to know that one can't be hurt by his own ink, in fact the red inkling knew this and was even struggling, making it hard to keep holding the Slosher.

Maybe Agent 3 didn't want to hit the red inkling, because he did not open fire, instead he calmly checked all the nearby windows before speaking:

"You can't hurt Kal with his own ink."

He called my bluff, but I wasn't done here, I am still young, I have only fought in one battle, and I did not want my life to end here.

"I just want to go home, let me go, I may not be able to splat this guy, but I can probably hit him pretty hard!" I tried my best to act as tough as possible, but at this point it was hard to fight back tears.

Agent 3 still wasn't moved; "Just let him go, I don't want you hurting anyone, we will sort out this whole thing later."

Sort out this whole thing later? What did he mean by that, obviously he does want to see his friend hurt, but if I turned myself in who knows what he would do? Would I be publicly executed to show the inklings that Octarians couldn't touch them? Or would I be held for ransom?

It was getting harder and harder to hold the red inkling, being tired and hungry didn't help, and the red inkling was asking Agent 3 to just splat me and get this over with.

"Kal, calm down, fake left, break right!"Agent 3 told the inkling

I had no idea what that meant, but the red inkling did, he began lurching to the left, so without thinking I pulled him to the right, the inkling followed and forced himself to the right, making both of us fall sideways.

The remaining ink in the Slosher spilled all over us, the red inkling wasn't affected, but I was.

I screamed out in pain before finally blacking out.

* * *

**Kalus' house**

"Why didn't you do anything!?" Kalus yelled at Inker "I called you over because there was a dangerous Octoling here and all you did was talk!"

Inker was busy cleaning the red ink off the Octoling's face. "I didn't want to do anything rash, look she wasn't able to hurt you, so I thought the best course of action was to try and talk this out."

"But why, you have already dozens of Octolings, what makes this one any different?"

"She was unarmed"

"She is still an Octoling though, you should know how dangerous they are, unless all those stories you told me about beating DJ Octavio were lies."

Inker, paused for a moment, put the unconscious Octoling down on the couch and then spoke.

"Everything I told you is true, but that doesnt mean I enjoy doing it, everyone believes what they want to, so that's why I try to avoid letting people know my identity, because if I do, I will get swarmed by other inklings, and be seen as this amazing hero."

"What is so bad about that? You could become super popular, just like the squid sisters!"

"I don't want to be known as someone who spatted countless Octarians, most inklings may believe that they deserve it for stealing the Zapfish, but there is no way of knowing for sure if they stole it from us, or if we are stealing it from them."

Kalus had never seen his friend with such a serious tone.

"What are you going to do with her then?" Kalus asked, pointing at the unconscious Octoling on his couch."

"She said something about wanting to go home, and unlike the other Octolings I have fought, this one didn't shoot you, nor throw Splat Bombs everywhere, I doubt she even has a weapon anymore, she is probably lost. I want to show the Octarians a new way, that we are not this big enemy of theirs, who knows we might even end up sharing the Great Zapfish."

The more Inker spoke, the more confused Kalus got  _'Inker was never an idealist, so why is he so concerned with this? He enjoys Turf Wars as much as any other inkling, and the wars with the Octarians shouldn't be much different, so why does he want to prevent more wars from happening?'_  Kalus thought to himself.

"Yo Kal? Are you there?" Inker waved his hand in front of Kalus' eyes to get his attention.

"Sorry, I was lost in thought."

"It's fine, can you do me a favor and let her stay with you for tonight" inker was talking about the Octoling home invader.

"What? No! I do not want to sleep with an Octoling."

"Bad choice of words, like really bad" this was something that Inker would normally say.

"There's the Inker I know."

"Haha, look I don't want to carry her to my house, it would look way too suspicious."

"So would I if someone found an Octoling in my house."

"Don't worry, if somebody happens to see her in your house i'll let them know it was my idea, and i'll be wearing the hero suit and tell who I really am."

"Alright then, I guess I have no choice, but you owe me, do you know what she did to me while you weren't here?"

"Did she pour ink all over the floor and drag you into it?"

"Umm, yes, how did you-"

"By looking around and knowing how Octolings fight, it's pretty obvious what happened, i'll come over tomorrow to help clean your place up, in the meantime keep this a secret from Neon and Sky please."

Basically Inker, was asking him to keep a fugitive in his home, and keep it a secret from everyone else.

"But what if something happens, nobody will know why I got splatted in my home."

"Don't worry, Octolings aren't stupid, and besides you know how Neon always talks about fighting, who knows what she will do if she found any Octarian. Also Sky is still a newbie so I would prefer if he was kept out of this."

"Gotcha, It will be our secret, just like one about you being Agent 3."

"Well see you tomorrow, stay fresh!"


	2. House of unease

Normally when you think of home you think of a place where you are safe; safe from the judgment of others, safe from enemies, and from anything else out there that could be dangerous, but how would you feel if a sworn enemy of your race was currently sleeping on your couch?

* * *

**Kalus' house, Midnight**

_'Just relax'_  Kal told himself for the hundredth time in the last two hours.

The whole incident with the Octoling home invader had taken an unexpected turn, not only did Inker not get rid of the Octoling, but he had requested that Kal shelter the Octoling for the time being.

This was not an easy task for Kalus: first of all the Inklings were raised to believe that Octarians were their natural enemy, that the two races could never get along, and that you should never turn your back on them otherwise you would either be splatted or taken prisoner. Second of all Kalus had no combat experience, after all Turf wars in Inkopolis were just games, right? Harmless events just for fun, no resemblance to real Turf wars.

"I wish morning would come already" Kal muttered to himself as he tossed and turned

Everytime he heard something he would immediately feel awake again, listening carefully and trying to figure out if someone was watching him, considering the fact that he had just been attacked by an Octoling in his own home, this was a natural reaction.

Eventually he would fall asleep, forgetting everything that worried him, and slipping away into his dreams.

* * *

**Cap'n Cuttlefish's home**

"Cap'n are you awake?" Inker aka agent 3 said after knocking on the Cap'n's manhole.

No response

Inker knocked a little harder "Cap'n! Hellooooooo!"

A very angry Cap'n Cuttlefish finally answered the door

"WHAT IS IT YOU WANT BOY!"

"Easy there Cap'n I just wanted to talk about the problem we got."

"Hmm, oh yes! The Octarians in Inkopolis right? I assume you couldn't find anything, after all agents 1 and 2 couldn't either."

"...Weren't they busy buying you more crabby cakes?"

"Heck no! They were busy looking for Octarians while buying crabby cakes."

"..."

"Ahh well its late, Inkopolis will be put on lockdown that way nobody can leave without me seeing them."

"Is that really necessary?"

"Of course! Octarians can never be trusted, who knows what they could be planning inside Inkopolis?"

"But what about the rest of us?"

"There won't be a problem, no nobody leaves Inkopolis that often anyways."

"But wouldn't a lockdown also mean that Inkopolis tower will be inaccessible? Won't everyone get bored?"

"We can't risk the Octarians spiriting away the Great Zapfish again, bucko. Anyways as I said earlier it's getting late so we should all go home now, we can talk more about this in the morning."

"Alright, bye Cap'n" Inker said as he waved goodbye.

"Aww man, the city is on lockdown, I should have told him about the Octoling but" Inker thought to himself "but I don't know how he would react, I know he has his reasons for hating the Octarians but there as to be a way to settle things without anymore inkshed. The first thing i'll do tomorrow is check on Kal, Neon, and Sky, I hope they are okay with Inkopolis tower being closed."

* * *

**Kalus' home Victoria's P.O.V**

I wake up in an unfamiliar place, for a moment I am confused, then I remember the events of yesterday night, I am confused again, the room I am in does not resemble a prison, at least not any prison I have heard of.

Looking around I see dried ink splattered everywhere the same colors from last night, I must not have been moved once I passed out.

Since there appeared to be no one around I decided to take explore this place, sure I had been here yesterday but I had been too busy fighting to pay attention.

The red inkling called Kal was still sound asleep, are all inklings this lazy? If so how did they manage to beat our professionally trained army?

No use thinking about it now, it seems that I am free for a moment, I am still dirty from being stranded in the middle of nowhere for almost a week so I made use of this Inkling's bathroom, after that I decided to eat something.

I made myself a bowl of cereal called "Inky-Os", the cereal wasn't particularly tasty, but it was plentiful, and the crunchy sounds made me think of crushing hundreds of enemy Inklings beneath my teeth, I almost laughed at the thought of it.

Hey speaking of Inklings what happened last night? I was clearly at the mercy of Agent 3 when I blacked out, so why am I still here, I thought Agent 3 spared no Octarian and even if he did, he should at least put me in a cage somewhere. The red inkling who lived here seemed close to Agent 3, maybe he did something? If so why would he do that?

A sudden pain in my mouth snapped me back to reality, I had bit my tongue while I was distracted so I decided to focus on eating. I quickly finished the entire box of cereal, after all I had not eaten well in days and this box was half empty when I found it, no big deal.

I sat back down on the couch, it was almost ten o clock and the red inkling still isn't up yet.

Once again I found myself wondering why am I still alive, Inklings and Octarians are born enemies so there was no reason for the red Inkling to convince Agent 3 to spare me.

Maybe the red Inkling was poorly educated? No, it would take alot of smarts to convince Agent 3 to spare an Octarian.

Well I wasn't going to get any answers just sitting around, and I am still a soldier so I should take advantage of my situation and gather everything I can on Inkopolis, plus I want to know why I am still alive and well, time to wake the Inkling.

* * *

Kalus awoke to someone poking him in the shoulder.

He groaned, turned and tried to go back to sleep.

"Are you awake?"

Upon hearing the voice of his assailant from last night, Kal woke up quicker than ever before. He shot up and found himself staring at the face of the Octoling from last night.

"Ehwawawhat what are you doing here." he blurted out

Victoria covered her face in disgust. "Watch the morning breath, red."

"Oh uhh sorry." Kal got out of bed.

Victoria stood arms crossed, expecting Kal to start explaining why she was in his home instead of a prison somewhere.

However Kal avoided eye contact with her and went to the washroom, it was obvious that he was not ready to be talking to an Octoling yet.

Once he was done with the washroom Kal went downstairs, Victoria had laid down on the couch and was reading a magazine

"You are out of cereal by the way." she sad as Kal passed by.

"What? Who said you could go around eating my food?"

Victoria just shrugged, Kalus grumbled and went to find something else to eat.

While Kal ate, Victoria took the chance to go upstairs into his room again, since he was busy eating she had some time to search for anything useful. Kal room had everything a regular Inkling would have: a bed made for one, two closets, a desk, and posters of either celebrities or turf war related stuff.

The only thing that piqued Victoria's curiosity was the fact that Kal had two separate closets.

Without hesitating she opened the first one, as expected it was full of clothes.

The second however contained something much more interesting: sets of weapons.

There was a Splattershot, a Splattershot Jr, an Aerospray, a Kelp Splat Charger, and the Slosher from yesterday.

Victoria had only used the Octoshot before, so the Splattershot would be the best choice for her, she equipped Kal's Splattershot set.

_'Now all I need is some ink and I could fight my way out.'_  she thought to herself

That thought was interrupted by Kal, who had finished eating and came upstairs, saw Victoria holding a weapon, and decided to try and disarm her.

"I knew you couldn't be trusted!" Kal yelled as he pounced on Victoria, trying to pry the Splattershot from her hands.

Both Kal and Victoria had hands on the Splattershot now, both of them fell to the ground, Kal landed on top, and tried to take back the empty Splattershot by standing back up.

However unlike before, Victoria was now well rested and fed, and she had been trained to fight the Inklings while Kal was just the average Turf war player. With a kick and a roll, Kal was flipped back onto the ground and now Victoria had the upper hand, she smacked Kal across the face, stood up, and put her foot down on Kal to prevent him from moving.

"Alright since you inklings always want to fight i'll oblige."

Victoria raised her foot and stomped on Kal.

"Ow, Ow, stop that, what do you want from me?!"

"Well for starters how about explaining a few things, like why keep me here instead of prison, or do Inklings splatter all their enemies and don't have prisons?"

"What? Hey we aren't the monsters here."

"Are you implying we are?"

"Of course, didn't you guys steal all the Zapfish for yourselves?"

"That's because you stole them from us first!"

"No way, we had them first!"

"Sure… just answer my question or i'll knock you into next week."

"I don't know, just ask Inker when he gets here"

"Who is Inker?"

"The other Inkling you saw last night."

"What! you mean Agent 3?! He is coming here?!"

"Yeah it was his idea to let you spend the night at my place, wait how do you know he is Agent 3?"

Victoria did not hear Kal's question, a wave of fear washed over her once she had heard that it was not Kal's idea, but Agent 3's idea to keep her here, what could his motives be? Probably something dreadful, something worse than being splatted like being boiled or burnt, she had to get away before he got here.

Victoria ran for the window.

"No wait don't go outside!"

Too late Victoria vaulted out the window.

Kalus ran downstairs and went for the door, but as soon as he unlocked it Victoria ran back inside.

"INKLINGS, VICIOUS INKLINGS EVERYWHERE!" Victoria yelled once she was back inside.

"Hey we aren't any more vicious than you Octarians" was Kal's reply

"Did anybody see me?"

"I hope not, i'm going to be in a lot of trouble if anyone finds out that i'm harbouring a fugitive in my home."

These last words comforted Victoria, she may be in enemy territory but at least someone here is trying to keep her safe.

But still what would happen when Agent 3 got here?

The doorbell rang half an hour later, and Kalus let Inker, aka Agent 3 inside.

The first thing Inker noticed was the red handprint on Kalus' face left there when Victoria had hit him during their earlier struggle.

Inker couldn't help but laugh a bit before asking "What happened to your face?"

"Take a guess."

"Nah, I'll probably over think it and then be disappointed by what really happened."

"Yeah sure, can we just get her back to where ever she came from?" Kalus pointed to Victoria as he spoke.

"Octo Valley? yeah , but with Inkopolis on lockdown nobody leaves without Cap'n Cuttlefish seeing them, the Cap'n has had some bad history with the Octarians so i'm not sure how he would react to all this."

"Great, so you are saying I'm going to be living with an enemy of our race until the lockdown is lifted."

"Yeah, or at least until I can find a way to convince the Cap'n that peace between the Inklings and Octarians is possible."

* * *

**Victoria's P.O.V**

I pretended to be minding my own business but I was actually eavesdropping on the conversation between Agent 3 and his friend. I heard them talk about trying to get me out of Inkopolis, I wonder why? As far as I know Inklings do not do things out of good will, next time I am left alone I should probably check my gear and clothes for any bugs.

When they were done talking, Agent 3 walked over to introduce himself

"Hi, I am Inker, im sure you have heard of me already."

"I'm Victoria." I said, Inker seemed very friendly for an elite Inkling soldier.

"My friend here is Kalus, but we call him Kal." Inker introduced his friend.

Inker, and Kalus, what weird names, Inklings must have a different way of naming themselves I doubt any Octarian would be named "Inker" after all the ones I know are named things like Octavia, Violet, Ashley, Octav, Kevin, or Octavio.

"I don't mean to be rude but can I ask you something?" Inker said

Was he interrogating me? I decided it would be best to refrain from doing hostile things, but I didn't want to give him any information he could use against my people.

"You get one question."

"Why are you here in Inkopolis without any backup or weapons"

"I got lost and wandered into Inkopolis, and I lost my Octoshot somewhere while I was running away from other Inklings."

"I have never seen any of your kind get lost before, how did you get lost?"

"That's two questions."

Good thing I said that I would only answer one question, it's never a good idea to show or admit any kind of weakness to anybody, and also getting lost is extremely uncommon in the Octarian army, so I was glad I didn't have to answer his second question.

"Hey we are letting you stay here instead of letting you rot in prison how about yo-!" Kal said in an angry tone before Inker cut him off

"Calm down, she doesn't have to talk if she doesn't want to, come on let's go see Sky and Neon." Inker said.

Sky and Neon? More of their friends? Or could they also be agents? After all Inker here is Agent 3 so there has to have been an Agent 1 and 2 before him, unless he was called Agent 3 to confuse us into thinking that there a more of them.

I noticed the two inklings were leaving, if I could go around Inkopolis I could maybe find some valuable information to excuse my absence from the army.

"Can I go too?" I asked in the most cheerful tone I could manage.

Kalus and Inker looked at each other.

"Uhh well, I don't think letting you go outside is a good thing to do." Inker said

"What so you are just leaving me here?" I responded

"Yeah sorry, Inkopolis is on lockdown that means Inkopolis tower is closed so most Inklings will be eager to get the lockdown lifted, that means almost everyone out there is interested in finding and getting rid of you."

"So what? I could pretend to be an Inkling, just give me a big hat or something to hide my tentacles."

"It's too risky, sorry"

Kal spoke up "I also think that it would be weird if we suddenly had a new friend during a lockdown."

It was obvious none of them wanted me tagging along.

"Fine, i'll stay here and find something to do."

"Good, we will be back soon, don't go anywhere!" Inker said

"Sarcasm not appreciated." I said as Kal and Inker left.

If they didn't want to show me around Inkopolis under current circumstances, then I would just need to find a way to make them.

I looked around the room, most of the Ink from yesterday was gone, however there was still some things left scattered around.

If I wanted to leave Kalus' home, I would need to make him think against keeping me here, and I know exactly how to do that.

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza**

Kal and Inker bought Ink smoothies and waited for their other friends to show up.

Neon saw them and ran over.

"Hiya guys!"

"Hi Neon, how did the Octoling hunt go?" asked Kal

"Ughhh I spent so long looking around last night and couldn't find anything, and I heard that Inkopolis tower is CLOSED! Now i'm tired and bored." Neon groaned, she was someone who put maximum effort into ranked battles in Inkopolis tower so it was pretty normal for her to be so worked up after figuring out the Inkopolis tower is closed.

"Well without turf wars these days are going to be a lot more boring." Inker said

"If this whole Octarians in Inkopolis thing is a joke by someone Kraken knows what I would do to them if i found them." A lack of sleep made one hot tempered, and boredom didn't help, Neon was practically steaming at this point.

"It's not some joke" Sky said, appearing out of nowhere and startling his three friends (how long had he been listening?)

"Where did you come from?" Kal couldn't help but ask

"I heard Neon yelling while I was getting an Ink smoothie and came over here."

Neon gave Sky an angry look.

"Anyways didn't you watch TV this morning, someone found an Octoshot meaning that there must be an Octoling somewhere in Inkopolis."

"What really?" Neon said

"Yep"

"Well I have seen people use Octoshot replicas in Turf wars before" Inker said

"Did none of you watch TV this morning?" Sky asked

"Well I was up way past midnight looking for Octarians so I woke up late and missed it" Neon said

"I couldn't sleep because of all the uhhh excitement." said Kalus

"I was busy" said Inker

"Okay well the squid sisters said that the Octoshot was taken to Sheldon, and he says that it is not one of Judd's replicas but a real Octoshot."

_'So everybody knows that Victoria is still inside Inkopolis'_ Inker thought _'That means Callie and Marie will probably be looking around once they are done with today's show.'_

Kal on the other hand was worried _'Everyone is looking for the Octoling in my house so she can't leave anytime soon, dammit Inker, why do I have to be stuck with her.'_

"Well there is not much to do now, I guess we could go the the firing range or something and try out some new sets" suggested Sky

"You can go do that, I'm going to find this Octoling if its the last thing I do, otherwise who knows how long it will be before Inkopolis tower opens again." Neon said, she then ran off to join the many other Inklings searching for Victoria.

Inker got another message from Cap'n Cuttlefish, this happened often whenever there was something involving Octarians.

"Sigh, sorry guys but I gotta go."

"No problem, it's not like we will be doing anything interesting, in fact i'm going to head home" said Sky

"Me too" said Kal

All three of them left in separate ways.

* * *

**Kalus' home**

Kalus went home, he opened the door and saw a huge mess, he quickly shut the door to prevent anyone from seeing it. There was ink everywhere, his furniture had been knocked around or flipped over, there was shattered plates on the ground, and his books, gear sets, and magazines were scattered everywhere.

"VICTORIA!" Kal yelled

"What?" Victoria said from upstairs

Kal avoided the dark magenta coloured ink and made his way upstairs to his room.

His room had also been ruined, his clothes were scattered all over the ground, some were soaked in dark magenta ink, which was also sprayed on the walls.

Victoria was lying down on Kal's bed, now wearing his expensive Squid Satin Jacket, and holding a now loaded Splattershot and spraying his Squid Sisters posters with it.

"What did you do to my house!?" Kal yelled at Victoria

"I was bored"

"Why did you wreck my house then!?"

"I was bored"

"Give me back my jacket and Splattershot!"

"No"

"Do you want to leave?!"

"Do you want to get shot?" Victoria said as she pointed the Splattershot at Kalus

Kal realised he was in a bad situation here and calmed down a bit, mostly out of fear.

"Grrr, just help me clean this place up."

"It's not nice to have your guest clean up your house."

"Well you are an awful guest!" Kal said as he began to pick up whatever clothes weren't soaked in ink, some of his things were completely soaked in Victoria's ink so he had to wait for the ink to dry.

"Why is there ink everywhere?"

"I never seen any of your weapons before so I decided to try them all out."

"What! My house is not a firing range!"

"Then take me to one next time."

"Is that why you wrecked my house? So that maybe I would take you out somewhere?"

"Nope I told you, it's because I was bored"

Victoria had sprayed the remaining ink in the Splattershot over the walls, she tossed away the now empty weapon and Ink Tank. Meanwhile Kal was cleaning up as much as he could, since Inker was once again busy with being Agent 3 he would probably not be able to come over and help. Since he could not touch Victoria's ink without getting hurt Kal tried asking Victoria to help again.

"Can you at least dry off the stuff that you soaked with ink?"

"No thanks."

"I'm not letting you stay if you don't"

Victoria sat up.

"Okay then, i'll open a window, stick my head out, and let everyone know that I have been here the whole time, how's that sound?"

An angry Kal stormed out of his own home,  _'Inker might be busy with Agent 3 stuff, but this was his idea so he should have to deal with it too.'_  Kal thought as he left.

* * *

**Cap'n Cuttlefish's Manhole, Inkopolis Plaza**

"Okay bye Cap'n." Inker had just finished another long conversation with the Cap'n when Kal walked up to him.

"Come with me." Kal said

"What, is something wrong." Inker replied

"Just come with me."

* * *

**Kalus' home**

Kal brought Inker to his house and showed him the mess Victoria had made.

"Look at it!" Kal said

"Okay calm down."

"JUST LOOK AT IT! Everything is a mess, all because you decided that it would be best if I kept an Octarian in my house."

Victoria came downstairs, she had made herself a kelp shake and was casually sipping it as she came into view.

"And here comes the culprit!' Kal said

"What else do you expect me to do for four hours." Victoria said in a tone that really annoyed Kal.

"We are trying to get you back to Octo Valley without a lot of commotion, the least you could do was not wreck my friend's house." Inker said

Victoria might have been afraid of Agent 3 before, but after seeing how kind he was any trace of that fear had vanished, so instead of apologizing she stuck to her plan of forcing Kal and Agent 3 to let her explore Inkopolis by causing lots of trouble.

"Well my people have been living without power for years since the Great Turf Wars, this is nothing compared to that."

"I understand that you must hate me for capturing DJ Octavio but you shouldn't take it out on Kal"

"DJ Octavio was captured?" Victoria said

"Yep, it just happened a few days ago, didn't you know about it?"

"Nope, I told you I was lost for Kraken knows how long."

"Well why did you trash Kal's house then"

"I was just bored, you guys are running around this big city while im stuck in here."

_'She wants to explore Inkopolis'_  Inker thought to himself,  _'But I accidentally told her that DJ Octavio was captured, wouldn't she try and free him?'_

"Okay then, help us clean this mess up and tomorrow we will find a way to let you go outside."

"What?!" Kal said

"Now you're talking!" Victoria said excitedly.

"You can't be serious, didn't you say that it would be dangerous for her to roam around while almost everyone in Inkopolis is looking for her?" Kal asked.

"Don't worry, we will stay with her to make sure she doesn't do anything suspicious."

"You do realize if we are caught then we could probably be kicked out of Inkopolis."

"That's why we won't do anything different from our normal lives. Inkopolis Tower may be closed but we can still take her to Inkopolis plaza, show her around some stores, get some snacks, things like that."

"What about Neon and Sky? you saw how angry Neon was now that she can't participate in any games."

"Just say that we met her recently, or make up some other story, it should be fine as long as we all act as we normally do."

"Okay, just don't leave to go do Agent stuff while I'm outside with her."

"I can't keep that promise, Cap'n Cuttlefish and Agents 1 and 2 will be looking for Victoria, until I am sure that I can convince them to let her go peacefully I can't have them finding out about us."

"Okay then, just help me clean this place up."

Kalus, Inker, and Victoria spent the rest of the day cleaning up Kalus' house.

* * *

**Kalus' house, Victoria's P.O.V**

Everything is going perfectly, Agent 3 is so easy to manipulate, maybe if we talked more then we would have definitely kept the Zapfish to ourselves. I heard that Agent 3 is constantly called away by the old Cap'n Cuttlefish of the Squidbeak Splatoon, all I need to do now is make Kal feel uncomfortable so that tomorrow I'll be able to explore Inkopolis on my own.

It was already night time, today was indeed boring but a success in my book. I went upstairs to Kal's room and squeezed into his bed with him.

"What the heck are you doing!" Kal said surprised.

Invading someone's personal space was the best way to make them feel uncomfortable, and I had an both an excuse and reason to do so.

"You don't have any spare sheets right? Well I was cold when I woke up today so I'm not sleeping on the couch again."

"Just pile some clothes on top of you then."

"Eww no."

"What do you mean "Eww"? You are already wearing my Satin Jacket."

"It's an exception, everything else looked awful."

"Fine, just stay on one side, and don't touch me."

"Your house your rules."

"As if you care."


	3. Motive

There is always a reason behind everything, whether it is as complicated as a tragic backstory filled with mixed emotions, or as simple as "Because I was bored" everyone has a motive.

* * *

 

**Kalus' Home, Morning**

The first thing Kalus saw when he woke up were Octarian tentacles.

He panicked for a moment then remembered that Victoria was staying in his house for the moment.

He panicked again, remembering how dangerous she supposedly was.

Kal hopped out of bed quickly and went to prepare himself for the day, quietly walking as to not wake Victoria up, after all she had been nothing but trouble so far, so any moment without her would be well appreciated.

In truth, Victoria had woken up before Kal and had positioned him so that she would be the first thing he saw when he woke up.

Victoria got up some time later, soon both were seated down in Kal's kitchen, having breakfast.

Victoria was excited, or at least she looked like she was, yesterday's messing around allowed her to explore Inkopolis today.

Kal on the other hand was feeling uneasy, sure he and Inker were going to be making sure Victoria didn't hurt anyone but still, is it really okay to let an Octoling walk out in the open while half the population of the city is looking for her?

After breakfast was done, Kal went upstairs to dig out his lowest and most commonly seen shoes, the Cream Basics, now what about headgear? Victoria needed something that could cover her tentacles otherwise she would probably be blasted the moment she left the door…

He could hear Victoria walk in, and look over his shoulder.

"Whatcha doing?" Victoria said, right next to Kal's ear.

Kal flinched then replied "Im trying to find something that can cover up your tentacles."

Kal kept looking, and Victoria kept bothering him "Can you stop breathing down my neck!?"

"Okay"

"Alright this should do the trick!" Kal said, holding a Tentacles Helmet

Victoria frowned upon seeing the big football helmet.

"Do you really expect me to wear that?" Victoria said

"If you want to go outside then yes."

"Don't you have anything less…. I don't know, weird?"

"Nope, and don't worry this pretty fresh, after all it is a three star headgear."

"Great….."

It would seem that Octarian and Inkling preferences differed.

"What about shoes?"

"Wear these."

Kal handed Victoria the Cream basics

"No way"

"Just wear these, it would be suspicious if a new Inkling suddenly appeared with only three star gear."

"It would also be suspicious if I have both this jacket and that helmet but those ugly shoes, move over I'll pick my own shoes."

"What, this isn't a shoe store, just wear the Cream Basics"

"Nah, unless you have a better excuse to make me wear those I'm picking my own."

Victoria started going through Kal's footwear trying to find one that she liked.

"Are you really going to stand there are watch me change?"

"Why wou... You're not even changing anything but your shoes!"

"Still, a little privacy would be nice."

While Victoria tried different pairs of shoes, Kal quickly turned and went downstairs to watch the Squid sisters news report, after all he had missed yesterday's news and didn't know that Victoria's Octoshot had been found.

The squid sisters were already halfway into the report when Kal turned the TV on.

"And so there have been rumors of a new Squidbeak Splatoon, apparently they were involved in the return of the Great Zapfish just days before the Octarians were spotted in Inkopolis." Callie announced."

As always Marie followed up with her own opinion

"What? Where did you hear that from?"

"If you see anyone wearing a Hero Suit be sure to give them a hand! With both citizens and the new Splatoon looking out for Octarians the Lockdown will be over before you know it!"

"Or maybe not, so far nobody has found anything."

"That will be it for now!"

Both sisters did their signature pose while simultaneously saying "Stay fresh!"

"New Squidbeak Splatoon huh, Inker never said anything about that."

Sure Kal knew that Inker was Agent 3, but Inker had never told him anything about Agents 1&2.

What Kal didn't know was that Agents 1&2 were none other than the squid sisters Callie and Marie, Inker didn't tell him because he didn't want Kal going to Cap'n Cuttlefish and becoming a fourth agent so that he could meet the famous sisters.

Victoria came down, now wearing LE Lo-tops.

"Alright! Now you and Agent 3 promised that I could go out today! So what are you waiting for?"

"Okay i'm coming just give me a sec"

Kal sent Inker a message via Squid phone.

"Are you coming by or are you leaving me with Victoria?"

Inker messaged him back quickly

"Don't worry, I'm on my way."

Kal also got a message from Sky

"Neon and I are at Ammo-knights, since there is not much to do we are trying out different weapon sets."

Kal decided it would be best to stay away from Ammo-knights, with that in mind he followed Victoria out of his home.

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza, Victoria P.O.V**

I had been here before but I was too busy running back then, so this city feels completely new to me. As I expected there are Inklings armed with all sorts of weapons, though Kal says that its only because they are worried about what I might do.

We met up with Agent 3 in an area lined with buildings, it looked like there were shops all over the place, the building that stood out the most was the giant tower in the center, I wanted to take a look but it was sealed away by tape, a sign said "Closed due to presence of Octarians" perfect, I must have stumbled upon something important, they wouldn't close down such a large building unless there was something important inside, in fact the tower was covered with a large tarp, or cloth or something, maybe they wanted to cover up any windows? Infiltraiting that tower was now my first priority, all I had to do was wait for Agent 3 to leave then shake Kal.

"We should go to Ammo-knights and say hi to Neon and Sky" Agent 3 suggested

"I was thinking we avoid Ammo-knights, after all I do want Neon and Sky asking questions." Kal repiled

Ammo-knights, Neon and Sky, things I didn't know, one was a place and two were people, probably other Inklings.

"Sky already said that he and Neon were at Ammo-knights so it would be weird if we didn't show."

"But do you really want Victoria to spend the day at a weapons store?"

Weapons? Ammo-knights had something to do with weapons? Interesting I could probably see more Inkling weaponry, and learn how to fight against them.

"That sounds interesting, lets go!" I say

"Come on Kal, don't be such a bad host." Agent 3 said

Kal nodded and led us to a building.

Inside a creature with big goggles and a weird shell helmet greeted us.

"Welcome! Let me guess, you are here for the shooting range."

"Yep" Agent 3 replied

"Just so you know there is a lot more people than usual ever since the lockdown began so you will have to share ranges with other Inklings."

"No problem, we are meeting our other friends here anyways."

Agent 3 led us through the store to an area were dozens of Inklings were firing different weapons at dummies.

Agent 3 walked over to two other Inklings, one was green and the other was cyan, the green one appeared to be helping the cyan one shoot some sort of long barreled weapon.

Kal on the other hand was hesitant to walk over, he was probably nervous accompanying me outside.

However he still went over to say hi, so I followed him.

"Kal, who is that?" the green Inkling said

"Oh uhhh, this is Victoria, she is relatively new to town, in fact umm I just met her this morning while Inker and I were coming over." Kal replied, "Victoria this is Neon, and this guy here is Sky" Kal said putting his hand on the cyan Inkling's head, he was shorter than the rest of us, probably younger too.

"Taking every opportunity you can get huh Kal." Neon said

"What is that supposed to mean?" Kal replied

Neon leaned over and whispered something into Kal's ear, making his face turn red like his hair.

"No way! What are you thinking!?" exclaimed Kal

I could probably guess what Neon told Kal, she seemed like a free spirited individual.

She then turned towards Agent 3 and said "Inker, the Battle Dojo is still open, how about we go a few rounds!"

"Really, I just got here, I don't want to leave already."

"Aww come on, you have tested your gear sets before, I would ask Kal or Sky but they both suck, only you could have a chance."

"Hey!" Kal yelled

Sky didn't react since he knew Neon told the truth.

Neon kept talking "With Inkopolis tower closed this is the closest I can get to a ranked match."

She then turned towards me "If Inker won't fight me then how about you? Are you squid enough for…"

Agent 3 cut her off "No need for that, I'll face you in the Battle Dojo."

"Alright! Come lets go before the place fills up"

Neon took Agent 3's arm and ran off.

"You want to avoid fighting Neon, she gets kinda crazy in any match." Sky had suddenly spoke up.

He was probably warning about that girl, sure she seemed weird but I doubt she could do much against Agent 3.

"I'm not a bad fighter myself, in fact I could probably take her on."I replied

"Don't bother, only Inker can beat her, and even if you beat her she will start demanding rematch after rematch."

"So you have beat her before?"

"Nope, I have just seen her do that to Inker before."

Kal walked up beside Sky, he had left and obtained a large and heavy looking weapon with several barrels.

"Spin em up!" Kal shouted as the weapon began rapidly firing ink.

"Aren't you going to try something?" Sky asked me

"Oh right of course, Kal! Mind helping me pick a weapon!?"

"You can go ahead, there aren't any bad choices." Kal replied

He was letting me out of his sight this easily? Alright time to explore on my own!

I left Ammo-knights and proceeded towards the tower, nobody could enter, and there was a old cat sleeping in front of it, a wild animal or some low budget security? Oh well he was not important, I had to try and find a way inside the tower.

I walked into the alleyway beside the tower, the same one that I had tried to take shelter in when I first made it to Inkopolis, I was hoping that there could be a rear entrance, or some other way to enter, I ran into the same homeless creature from the day before yesterday. He was staring at me, oh no! Could he recognize me even with my tentacles covered?

My body had tensed up and I was about ready to run.

"Are you a cop?" he asked

I breathed a sigh of relief, he didn't remember me.

"Nah you're too fresh to be a cop, and you aren't holding any weapons so I bet you aren't looking for Octarians either, im sorry but I can't get ya anything at the moment, not with the whole lockdown thing goin' on."

Im too fresh to be a cop? Hah good thing I took Kal's three star gear.

"That's fine" I replied

There didn't seem to be a way to the back on the tower, the alleyway seemed to end here, maybe if I climbed over the walls?

"You tryin to find a way into Inkopolis tower? Word of advice for ya mate, don't, they really don't wanna lose the Great Zapfish again, if they catch ya you'll probably be banned from Turf wars and put away for a long time." the spikey homeless creature spoke again.

"The Great Zapfish is in there?" I asked

"Nah it's on top of the tower, they just covered it up to prevent any Octarians from spotting it."

The Great Zapfish was on top of the tower? Why would the Inklings put it there? It was the exact same place as last time, our saucers could easily take it back, these Inklings are so stupidly overconfident, yet somehow they always manage to win every war.

"Okay, well I probably shouldn't be seen here, thanks for the tip!" I said as I left the alleyway.

Find out the secret of that huge tower proved much easier then I could have ever thought, I don't know if that poor fellow in the alleyway is an Inkling or not, but he has just helped me paint my next target.

Just thinking about made me want to laugh but now was not the time for that, now was the time to find some gear.

There was a manhole near the tower, If that alleyway is the same alleyway that I ran into when I first arrived, then this manhole should be a way out.

Taking a peek inside I notice and old squid on his phone, he didn't look dangerous, but I recognized this place, there were kettles there. Perfect! If I can pull of this heist then i'll be able to revive the Octarian cities. All this was thanks to the Inklings though, oh what fools they were, Agent 3, Kal, and everyone else I have met in Inkopolis, they are so quick to trust someone, it won't be long before the next Great Turf war begins now. Time to get in gear.

* * *

Meanwhile Inker was once again summoned by Cap'n Cuttlefish, he had to leave now but Neon was not making it easy.

"Come on best four out of seven!"

They had played five rounds and Inker had won three, as expecting Neon didn't take losing lightly, she was practically trying to drag Inker back into the Battle Dojo.

"I'm sorry but I really need to go." Inker said

"What you scared of losing?"

"No it's just an emergency."

"Really? You seem to have LOTS of emergencies considering it happens almost every day."

"Sorry but I have a life outside of Turf wars, and other matches."

"Are you saying I don't?!"

"No, look I gotta go, just search for Octarians or something."

"Like all those other Inklings walking around with weapons in their hands? Nah I'm sure the Octarians in Inkopolis are either fake, or hiding somewhere, so I'm not doing anything until I get more clues."

"More clues? What do you have already?'

"Like I would tell you, I'm gonna be the one and only Inkling to purge Inkopolis of Octarians, I can't beat you head on so I'll out think you, good luck, I bet you are using those "Emergencies" as excuses to search for clues yourself, well guess what I am close, I bet you'll see me on the news a few days from now! Just you wait."

Neon was getting pumped from just thinking about becoming an Octarian slaying hero, at least that meant that she wouldn't drag Inker into more 1v1s in the Battle Dojo for now.

_'Alright now that that's out of the way let's see what the Cap'n's got for me today.'_

Inker left the Battle Dojo and entered the manhole leading to the Cap'n base of operations (which is probably his home as well).

"There had been no trace of Octarians ever since that Octoshot was found so I want you three to watch Inkopolis tower, I 'ave a feelin that the Octarians will be hiding amongst the Inklings, if you see anyone suspicious then follow them, or find some other way to find out if they are Octarians or not." Cuttlefish ordered.

"Cap'n you know you could just have told me over the Squid phone."

"Yes, but it is better this way, who knows what the Octarians got up their sleeves, they may be right under our noses."

(Does he even have a nose) Inker thought.

"Anyways be careful out there, Agents 1 and 2 are also looking around the city, but it should easier for you, because well you know, kids and their celebrity crushes these days."

"Yep I got it Cap'n i'll go now."

Inker left and quickly headed to Ammo-knights.

"I need to warn Kal and Victoria!"

Luckily Ammo-knights wasn't too far away from Cuttlefish's manhole, Inker went straight to the shooting range where he found Kal and Sky and many a few other Inklings tossing splat bombs into the basketball hoop, but where was Victoria?

Inker couldnt just go up to Kal and ask, that would draw suspicion from Sky, he checked every shooting range, he found a few Inklings wearing the same clothing as Victoria but that was as close as he could get, he could not find that Octoling anywhere.

By now Kal had also noticed that Victoria had gone missing, pretending to go get a new weapon set he left Sky alone in the shooting range, and messaged Inker.

"I have lost Victoria,, where are you?"

"Im in the shooting range"

"Meet me outside Ammo-knights"

"On my way"

Inker ran out of the building

"Why weren't you watching her?!" Inker asked.

"Sorry, people were getting the wrong idea so I stopped paying attention."

"Seriously!? Okay agent 1 and 2 are looking around Inkopolis for any Inkling that is acting weird, we need to find her before they do."

"Okay, but where would she go?"

Both Inklings looked at Inkopolis tower, and got the same idea, she was an Octoling so naturally she would try and steal the Great Zapfish right?

Judd was seated in front of Inkopolis tower so there was no way she made it past him with him noticing.

"We should ask Judd if he saw anything." Kal said

He ran towards to old cat but Inker stopped him.

"No don't, it will make us look suspicious, let's split up and look around the tower."

"Good idea."

Inker and Kalus ran in different directions, Inker ran into Spyke's alley while Kal went the other way.

"Watcha lookin for mate." Spyke said as he saw Inker pass by

"Spyke? Maybe he saw something, but how can I get information out of him without raising suspicion? I know!" Inker thought.

"Looking for gear of course."

"Sorry mate, I don't know if you heard but with the whole lockdown going on it's too risky for me to move around."

"Really, I thought I saw some girl come here earlier, I guess she didn't know either." Inker lied in case Victoria had indeed come here

"That'll be right, she didn't."

_'Victoria shouldn't know Spyke so that didn't sound like her.'_  Inker thought

Spyke kept going "I hope you ain't lookin' for trouble, I don't want more people tryin' to sneak into Inkopolis tower from here, attracts too much attention."

_'Never mind that definitely sounded like Victoria.'_

"Don't worry, I just thought that I could get some better gear before the lockdown ended, take care Spyke."

Inker left the alleyway, he received a message from Kal shortly after.

"Found her, but you gotta get here quick, bring a weapon!"

That sounded urgent.

Inker took his Splattershot Pro set from Ammo-Knights and rushed to another alleyway near the Cooler Heads store, Kal was there, so was Victoria, and…. an unconscious Inkling?

"What happened here?" Inker asked, but then he noticed that Kal had his arms raised.

Victoria had stolen a Splattershot Jr set from the unconscious Inkling, taken off the helmet and jacket she borrowed from Kal, re equipped her Octoling goggles. She looked as combat ready as any other Octoling.

"Victoria? What are you doing." Inker asked

"I have seen enough, I'm leaving, and I think i'll take the Great Zapfish with me."

"Don't be stupid how do you expect to get away with something that large?"

"Never underestimate the Octarian army."Victoria said "As thank you for being so kind to me up until now, I think i'll let you off this once."

She then fired Ink onto a nearby wall, and swam up to the rooftop.

"I told you keeping her was a bad idea!" Kal said

"Now is not the time to complain, take care of that Inkling, I'm going after her."

Inker shot Ink up the wall as well, luckily his Splattershot had greater range, allowing him to climb faster than Victoria.

* * *

Victoria was Running for Inkopolis tower, luckily Inker had his Inkstrike prepared just in case, he fired it at the edge of the roof stopping Victoria dead in her tracks, she turned to face Inker.

"I gave you a chance, now you'll regret not taking it!" Victoria yelled at Inker

"I could say that same to you." Inker shot back

The two began shooting and dodging ink, it was soon clear that Victoria was at a disadvantage as she had stolen a gun with poor range and a wide spread. Inker managed to hit her twice before she retreated back into her colored ink.

Since her weapon wasn't any good Victoria decided to use the Splat bombs, she lept back out of octopus form and tossed a splat bomb towards Inker, who turned into a squid and swam back. The Splat bomb missed but it had given Victoria more ink to hide and swim in, however Inker's set also came with Splat bombs, he tossed one of his own and soon whatever advantage Victoria might have gotten from her Splat bombs were gone.

It was clear that Inker had no intention of splatting Victoria

_'I already contacted the Octarian army, I only need to survive for three minutes and then Octostrikers and bombers will arrive to take the Great Zapfish and get me out of here.'_  recalling this Victoria decided to switch to a more defensive fighting style.

Inker wasn't about ready to splat anyone, but he had to protect the Zapfish, seeing how Victoria was on the defensive he charged, every time Victoria was hit she would retreat, and everytime she did so Inker would cover up some of the roof in his own ink, Victoria was running out of places to go.

As a last resort she used an unfamiliar weapon, the Bubbler, Octolings did not use these kinds of gear but Victoria knew that adaptivity was the key to winning battles, she quickly realized that it was a shield so she took the opportunity to rush Inker. However Inker wasn't any less adaptive, he knew that he couldn't penetrate Victoria's bubble so he backed off.

If Victoria had used the Bubbler eariler she might have had a chance, but now Inker had the entire roof to hide in, Victoria could only cover some turf with some Splat bombs and shots while her Bubbler was active.

As soon as the Bubbler was deactivated Inker sprang into action, Victoria had used up too much Ink while trying to hit him, and since he had been recovering Ink while her Bubbler was active he now had the upper hand.

In a few moments the entire rooftop was once again covered in blue ink, Victoria had no more ink and nowhere to go.

"Darn it! I can't lose now, my entire race depends on this!"

Despite the conditions Victoria was not ready to give up, however she had no other way of escaping, she threw the Splattershot Jr onto the ground in anger, it was then that Inker emerged right behind her, knocking her out with his Splattershot Pro.

* * *

Inker carried the unconscious Victoria back down to where Kal was waiting.

"Help me put the helmet and jacket back on her, we are taking her back to your place." Inker said

"What?! you can't be serious." Kal was shocked by Inker's decision.

"Afraid I am."

"No, I refuse to have anything to do with this anymore, this is your problem now."

"Lets not jump to conclusions there has to be a reason for her to do something like this."

"She is an  _ **OCTARIAN!**_  what other reason is there? Inklings and Octarians don't mix, we are enemies by nature, just accept it!"

"No, I know that we aren't natural enemies." Inker said in a serious tone

"Dude, we had been at war a hundred years ago, and to this day we still fight each other, you know this better than I, Neon, Sky or anyone else! I can't believe that you of all people still want to help her after she had just tried to restart the Great Turf War, why!?"

"I have a reason, help me get her back to my house, i'll explain."

"Your house, not mine huh, alright, but i'm done taking care of her, from now on I am not involved in this."

Inker and Kal put the Satin jacket and helmet back on Victoria, Kal then went and called over some other Inklings.

"What happened here?" One of the Inklings asked

"I don't know, we were looking for our friend and found both her and another inkling like this." Inker replied

"Do any of you know him?" Kal asked, pointing at the unknown Inkling who was still unconscious.

All of them either replied "nope" or shook their heads.

"Okay well can you guys find someone who does, or just help him out? We gotta get our friend back home." Inker said

One of the inklings nodded, and asked some of his friends to check the unconscious Inkling's condition, another went to go alert authorities, while Kal and Inker took Victoria to Inker's house.

* * *

"Interesting turn of events, why is Agent 3 taking the Octoling back to his home?" Agent 2 said

The two agents had seen the fight between an Octoling and Agent 3, and were now keeping an eye on them from the rooftops.

"He has to have something planned, otherwise he would tell us, or he would tell gramps." Agent 1 replied

Both agents watched Agent 3 and the red Inkling bring the Octoling into Agent 3's home.

"We shouldn't tell gramps about this, there's no telling what he will do." Agent 1 told Agent 2

"We need to know what is going on though."

"Lets just ask Agent 3 tomorrow."

Both Agents got a message on their Squid Phones,"looks like we gotta do another breaking news report, come on let's hurry back to the studio!"

* * *

**Inker's home**

Kal's home was much smaller than Inker's, it was also pretty different, so Victoria once again found herself in an unfamiliar place. Inker and Kal had just set her down when Victoria regained consciousness.

"Great you're up." Kal said sarcastically

"Where am I?" Victoria asked

"Inker's home this time, no more wrecking my house."

"Easy Kal, VIctoria, I already said i'd get you back to Octo Valley, why did you try and take the Great Zapfish alone?"

"I wasn't going to be alone." Victoria said, "I had contacted the Octarian army, and they were coming, all I had to do was hold out for three minutes."

Victoria felt a mix of anger and sadness swell up inside her.

"Dammit! Why doesn't anything ever go my way!" she yelled, punching the couch in anger.

"Probably cause you're trying to steal from us again, can you ever think about anyone else for a change!?" Kal said, after all Victoria broke into his house, attacked him, then made a mess of the place the very next day, all because she was bored! Kal impression of her was low, she seemed like a scheming, selfish Octoling who probably never thought of any else before.

"We Octarians need that Zapfish more than you ever do." Victoria replied.

"That doesn't answer my earlier question, why? Why to you need that Zapfish?" was Inker's question.

"The Octarians are selfish that's why." Kal muttered

"Oh we are the selfish ones?!" Victoria was more angry than ever.

"Kal you aren't helping."

"I'm sure Agent 3 here knows exactly why we need the Great Zapfish, go ahead Inker, tell him!"

"Uhh, I don't really know." Inker said

"ARE YOU IGNORANT! OR JUST STUPID!" Victoria couldn't hold herself back anymore "My people are living without power, without safe homes, and who knows what else! All because of you! Go to Octo Valley again any day and look around! Heck even listen, listein to our screams and moans, people there are suffering! Our cities, our homes, everything is literally falling apart! Oh but that doesn't concern you does it Agent 3!? Because you were probably too busy stealing Zapfish to care! What do you need it for anyways?! Powering those stores and other recreational facilities?! My people are DYING! Our city is falling apart! I could wake up one day and lose everyone I have ever known to accidents! Maybe a train will derail? Maybe a tower will collapse? Who knows?! And now I'm the one being selfish!? We need zapfish to repair our city, to SURVIVE! Ever thought of that before you selfish prick!"

Victoria stopped to catch her breath.

Kal, who been ready to walk out the door and leave all this behind him had stopped to listen, he was speechless for a moment.

"Huh... I never thought about what the Zapfish meant to others." was all he could manage to say.

"Maybe we are meant to fight over everything." Victoria continued

"No we are not." Inker said as he walked over to a shelf, he pulled out a old scroll, marked with the number 16.

Inker unrolled the scroll to reveal an old picture of an Octarian and an Inkling, they were both smiling, and seemed to be talking about something.

"This is why I believe we are not natural enemies." Inker said

Both Kal and Victoria gazed curiously at the scroll

"Before the Great Turf War, there was enough land and resources for both races, and there were peaceful relations between us, this is Cap'n Cuttlefish, leader of the famous Squidbeak Splatoon, and the Octarian beside him is-"

"DJ Octavio?" Victoria asked

"Yes, well at least it looks like it, maybe that's why Cuttlefish hates the Octarians so much, once the sea levels rose fighting began, I don't know what happened after that. Cap'n Cuttlefish never talks about the Octarian in this picture, and I doubt he wants too, if it really is DJ Octavio then maybe that's why the Cap'n can only bring himself to order his imprisonment and nothing more, there has to be a part of him that is willing to forgive the Octarians, im sure of it."

Inker rolled the scroll back up "It's getting late, Kal if you still don't want anything to do with this then you should go now, get a good rest."

Kal didn't say anything, he just got up and left.

Inker then turned to his new guest.

"I only have one bed, if you want it then i'll sleep on the couch today."

"No it's fine, I think you have done enough for me already."

"Alright then, good night Victoria." Inker said as he went upstairs.

"I wish I could tell everyone else about this" Inker thought "There needs to be some way that both races can co-exist, why do the Inklings and Octarians fight each other so much, why are we all led to believe that the other is willing to splat us for personal gain?"

It had been a long day, the 1v1s with Neon, then the search for, and the fight with Victoria had taken their toll on Inker, he fell asleep quickly, without anytime to plan for tomorrow.


	4. Revelations

Have you ever met someone who you just couldn't bring yourself to like? do you ever think that knowing more about them could change your mind? Revelations can be quite the eye opener.

**Inker's home, Victoria's P.O.V**

I am not hurt, I am well fed, and I have a clean place to stay, there is even wonderful music playing in the room, everything seems just fine, so why do I feel so sad?

That's because below the surface I am the definition of a defeated soldier, I may not have been imprisoned, tortured, or punished, but that doesn't change the fact that I have lost every battle I have entered.

My first mission didn't go well, I don't even know who we were facing, but I ended up alone and separated from the others, and just yesterday I had my second battle where I was soundly defeated.

Why can't I ever achieve victory? I should just change my name to something bland and pitiful like Maroon and be done with it.

Like almost every other Octarian I have trained myself every day so that someday we would rise up and overthrow the Inklings, a race that supposedly preyed on the weak, and cared only for themselves, but none of this had actually happened; my people did not rise, and the Inklings I have met are so kind and forgiving. I just can't understand, everything is so different from what I was told and what I expected.

I don't even know what to do now, yesterday I was furious at Agent 3 for stopping me from getting to the Great Zapfish, in anger I had revealed my people's weakness, that we were desperate for energy.

"Huh… I never thought about what the Zapfish meant to others." Kal's words from yesterday echoed in my head, it didn't make me feel as angry as it should have, instead it made me wonder if I had been equally selfish, what did I do in the last two days; I made a mess of Kal's house, mugged some random Inkling, and tried to splat Inker.

Yet despite me constantly giving them trouble for the past few days, Inker of all people refuse to turn me in, but he is Agent 3! Wasn't he supposed to be some sadistic berserker who annihilated all who stood against him? Yet here he was, sheltering me, keeping me safe, and trying to get me home without anyone noticing, he is so different from what my people, no, what I was led to believe, I still believe that my people need the Zapfish, but so far everything they have said appear to be lies, Inklings aren't evil, Agent 3 is no monster, and we had once been at peace, who knows what else they lied about?

"Not hungry?" Inker asked me

I had been so lost in thought that I hadn't touched my breakfast yet.

"Oh sorry, I was just thinking."

"Save the brainwork for later, you shouldn't think on an empty stomach."

There was about a minute of silence before Inker spoke again.

"I'm not going to force you to stay in here, but I suggest that you don't go outside, what you did yesterday reassured everyone that there were dangerous Octarians still in Inkopolis, that helmet you borrowed from Kal might not be enough."

Basically he was telling me to stay put, I didn't have a problem with that, I had used my curiosity as an excuse to go outside and try to sabotage the Inklings city, so I didn't really have a problem with staying indoors. Inker is treating me way better than I could have ever asked, and Kal? Kalus the red Inkling had every reason to hate me, I had been messing with him the day I got here, I really should apologize for all the trouble I gave him.

"That's fine, I think I have seen enough already." I reply "How is Kal holding up?"

Kal was just as angry as I was yesterday, but after everything I said, and Inker explaining why he was so determined to pursue peace he seemed to calm down, was he as confused as I am?

Inker showed me his Squid Phone, Kal had told everyone that he wasn't feeling well and was staying home, what I said yesterday must have really gotten to him.

There was another message from the two inklings from yesterday, Neon and Sky, I didn't get to know them very well but from what I saw, Neon loved to fight, and Sky was well behaved. Neon and Sky both said that they would pay Kal a visit, Inker followed suit, I decided that it would be best to visit him tomorrow so that I don't run into any other Inklings.

"I'm leaving now." Inker said, he was probably going to visit Kal.

"Bye" I said, I didn't have much else to say.

* * *

**Kalus' Home**

Neon, Sky, and Inker had all come to visit Kal.

"Are you okay?" Neon asked "You don't look sick, but you aren't looking too fresh either."

Anyone could see clearly that Kal was disturbed by something, Inker probably knew what it was but could not discuss it with Neon and Sky here.

"I'm fine, I guess."

"Did something bad happen? Maybe to somebody you know?" Sky asked

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Come on, we are all here for you, you can tell us." Neon said

"I'd rather not, maybe some other day, probably after the lockdown is lifted, I could really use a round of Turf wars to clear my head."

"How about the Battle Dojo then! It always makes me feel better, don't worry I'll go easy on you this time."

Kal smiled a bit "I have seen you go easy before, and it is still terrifying."

"Let's just leave him alone for now" Inker suggested "Kal everything is fine on our ends, so if you need anything just give us a call."

What Inker's said was kind of weird from Neon and Sky's point of view, but Kal knew what he meant: he wasn't referring to himself, Neon and Sky, he was referring to he and Victoria, it must mean that she wasn't causing anymore trouble at the moment.

Kal waved goodbye to his friends as they left.

"Well what now?" Sky asked

"Don't worry." Neon said, with the help of other Inklings I think I am getting close to finding the Octarians in Inkopolis, in fact I have a new lead, im going to check it out today, bye guys!"

Neon ran off, Inker was kind of worried, could Neon really find Victoria from a bunch of rumors and a handful of news reports? Nah, she was someone who only took fighting seriously, she probably couldn't figure out anything.

He didn't have time to think about that because he had another message on his Squid Phone, this time it was from Agent 1.

"We need to talk, we saw what happened yesterday, come to the studio when you have the time."

Things weren't going well.

* * *

**Inkopolis news studio**

Another show had just ended, some of the squid sisters fans were crowded around the studio hoping to catch a glimpse of the squid sisters.

How did these fans react to seeing a blue Inkling enter the studio? Some would assume he worked there, others said "Lucky squid" under their breaths.

Inker was led to a break room where the sisters Callie and Marie were waiting, they may be the stars of Inkopolis, but secretly they were the two agents before him, Callie was Agent 1, and her cousin Marie was Agent 2.

You know that feeling young kids get when they do something wrong and the principal calls them to the office, that could describe how Inker felt now, from what he heard these two were Cap'n Cuttlefish's granddaughters, and they made all the news reports in Inkopolis, if he couldn't convince them to keep Victoria a secret then they could tell Cuttlefish, or maybe they would make another news report, then a mob of angry Inklings would descend upon his house and annihilate Victoria.

"We are pretty busy today so let's cut to the chase, why are you hiding an Octoling in your home?" Callie asked

"I just don't want to make such a big fuss out of everything."

"Really?"

"Yep"

Marie spoke next "We saw you fighting with that Octoling on the rooftops so we know she isn't very friendly, normally if something like this happened that Octoling should have been splatted or arrested, I'm thinking that you have a better reason for not doing any of the above."

These two are much smarter than you would think, Inker had no other choice but to explain.

"Well first of all her name is Victoria, two days ago my friend Kalus called me to say that an Octoling had broken into his home, but the Octoling I met there seemed more scared than usual, so I told him to let her stay with him until I could find a way to get her back to Octo Valley."

"Go on."

"Well with the lockdown going on all the kettles should have been blocked and the Cap'n manhole under surveillance so I couldn't send her back right away, she first made a mess of Kal's home so I told her that I would let her explore Inkopolis the next day. And then came the events of yesterday, I left to go see the Cap'n and she left to try and steal the Great Zapfish, but Kal had found her so I rushed over and stopped her. I wanted an explanation, why would she do something like stealing Zapfish when I already promised to get her back home. Kal was angry that night because Victoria had caused nothing but trouble since she had gotten here, he insulted Victoria, which made her reveal that Octo Valley is falling apart."

"Where is she now?"

"At my place still, she seems to be distraught after the events of yesterday, so does Kal. I had planned to prove to both races that Octarians and Inklings can co-exist, after all while I was doing missions for Cap'n Cuttlefish I found a sunken scroll that suggested that Inklings and Octarians were not always enemies."

"I heard about that from Gramps, he said that back then there was more than enough turf for everyone, but trusting the Octarians was a big mistake."

"I think I know the reason for that, the Great Turf War was fought a hundred years ago right? The scroll I found seemed to show Cuttlefish and DJ Octavio as friends, I'm sure the cause for the war between races isn't just because of turf, something happened between Cuttlefish and Octavio, so I know that he could never trust any Octarian, that is why I never told him about Victoria."

"Who else knows about this?"

"Just Kal and Victoria."

"Okay try and keep it that way, it's how the Squidbeak Splatoon operates, we will see if we can convince gramps to let this one go."

"Thanks"

Inker left the studio, everything went better than expected, he didn't have to worry about Agent 1 and 2 now, so Victoria should be safe for the time being. The rest of the day should go smoothly, and it did.

* * *

**Inker's home**

Inker went home to see Victoria well behaved, she had not messed up anything and was enjoying the Squid sisters' show.

"The music here is so different from DJ Octavio's." Victoria said

"Yeah it really gets your ink pumping doesn't it."

"Everything here so different from Octo Valley, it feels like a whole different world."

"I can see that."

"Is Kal still upset?"

"Yeah."

"Figures, if you don't mind I'd like to visit him tomorrow and apologize for wrecking his stuff."

"You can go ahead, I'll be busy anyways." Inker paused for a moment "You know it's a good thing I stopped you in time before you went any further, all the Kettles back to Octo Valley are blocked during the lockdown."

This meant that no matter what, Victoria's plan from yesterday would have failed.

"Really? I didn't know that."

"Too bad, could have saved us a lot of trouble if you did."

Victoria spent the rest of the day watching TV and reading magazines.

* * *

**Kalus' home, the very next day**

Everyone was off doing their own thing again: Inker had his Agent 3 business, Neon was running around looking for Octarians, and Sky was probably studying turf war skills, there was no reason for any of them to come by.

That is why Kalus was surprised when someone rang his doorbell, he opened the door to see Victoria.

"Hi..." Victoria said

"Hi..." Kal replied

"Umm so I came by to say I'm sorry for being such a pain in the back."

"Don't worry, it's fine."

There was a moment of silence

"Well uhh, that is all so umm, bye." Victoria said as she turned to leave.

She had taken a few steps away when Kal spoke again.

"Is your life in Octo Valley really that bad?" Kalus asked

"Yep."

"If you don't mind, can you tell me about it?"

"It's going to be a long story."

"I've got time, you want to come in?"

"Sure"

Kal and Victoria sat down, Victoria removed her helmet began telling him about Octo Valley.

"First of all Octo Valley is a pretty cramped place, just like Inkopolis but that's the only thing that is similar. Unlike Inkopolis the buildings are old, some of them are uninhabitable, in fact if someone could find a place like yours it would probably be worth a fortune."

"That really says something cause my small house is really cheap." Kal joked

"Since living conditions are so bad Octarians need to be careful when going outside, once I was out for a jog and a train car flew off the rails and landed right in front of me."

Kalus had lived in Inkopolis all his life, it was a safe place, he couldn't imagine something like that happening here "Oh my." was all he could say.

"That wasn't the only time something like that happened, my first home collapsed luckily it happened when I was away, however it happened a second time, this time I was buried for half a day before someone dug me out, I came to realize that nowhere was safe in Octo Valley."

"Wow, is that what inspired you to become a soldier?"

"It's what inspired everyone, then DJ Octavio's music pumped us up, almost the entire population was willing to become soldiers, it was the price they had to pay if they ever wanted a safe home. That is why I spent everyday exercising, practicing, training myself to be the best I can be. I took being a soldier very seriously, that is why I decided to take advantage of you and Inker's generosity, to benefit my people and my career."

"Is that why you wrecked my house three days ago?"

"Yeah, I knew you and Inker wouldn't let me out unless I motivated you too, after all it would be the only way to prevent me from trashing your house again."

"Are all Octarian soldiers like this?"

"I guess so, the moment I joined the army I decided to be tough as nails and always on edge, and always scheming, I know for sure that i'm not the only one to do so."

"Guess you guys aren't very friendly huh."

"Yeah we are often too serious to be friendly to each other, but that doesn't mean all of us are, my roommate Violet spends her days going from accident to accident in order to help anyone who is injured, she always stays away from military affairs to help people who are in need, I used to look down on people like that thinking that it was just an excuse to not fight for one's race, but now I have seen someone do both."

Someone who helps people and fights, there was only one person that could be. "You are referring to Inker right?"

"Yep, though I admit I never saw it coming. You see, there were many rumors regarding Agent 3 in Octo Valley, at first they said that a splatoon of Inklings were stealing back our Zapfish, then it was revealed to be just one Inkling, as we kept losing Zapfish we began to wonder if he was invincible, nowadays the rumors say that he; Agent 3, was an unstoppable, sadistic and ruthless killer, as well as the Inkling army's champion."

"That sounds way over the top."

Victoria smiled, recalling other silly rumors, probably make by some crazy conspiracy theroists.

"Oh there's more, someone even suggested that he was some sort of cyborg Inkling made from an orphan and the salvaged remains of our destroyed Octoweapons."

"Seriously" Kal laughed at the thought of his best friend Inker being a cyborg super soldier.

"Yeah I never believed that one, still people had two reactions to those rumors, some were eager to fight Agent 3 in order to prove themselves, while others were scared of meeting him."

"Which one were you?"

"Both, I used to be excited at the thought of battle, taking down Inklings like Agent 3 seemed so thrilling back then, but my first battle was a disaster, then I ended up in here, when I saw Inker arrive that day I was scared, good thing those rumors were just rumors."

"You must have some pretty bad luck on your side."

"Maybe maybe not, after all you guys are letting me go back to Octo Valley, I had assumed that there was a twist, but now I know not to look too deep into someone's good intentions, otherwise i'll end up insulting them"

Kal thought to himself "her life is way worse than mine, always worrying and living in fear, what was I thinking back then, she isn't selfish at all, she is just looking out for her people."

"Do you think that Inker's idea of a mixed city is possible." Victoria asked

"I'm not sure, I never really thought about it before."

The sound of a doorbell ringing broke the quiet atmosphere in the room.

"Hide." Kal whispered

Victoria vaulted over the couch and hid behind it.

Kal opened the door to see Neon armed with her favorite Splatterscope set.

"Hi Neon, still trying hard to find Octarians?"

"Ughh, you have no idea!" Neon said as she walking inside Kal's home, the lines under her eyes suggested she had not been sleeping well recently.

"I have been asking around and gotten every bit of information I could." Neon said as she plopped herself down on the couch.

"Okay, so why come visit me?" Kal asked

"I said I had been asking around right? So I wanted to ask you what you knew about this Octarian invasion."

"Not much, I haven't left home for a while now, all I know is that there was an Octoshot that was found, so there was at least one Octoling in Inkopolis."

"Huh" Neon looked around "where is your new friend?"

"What do you mean?"

"The one from yesterday with the Tentacles helmet."

"I have no idea, I just met her that day and haven't heard from her ever since."

"Oh, well that's too bad, there was a breaking news report the other day saying that an Inkling was found unconscious, and that supposedly another unconscious one was taken away by her friends."

"Do you suspect that she had something to do with it?"

"Of course Kal, and I have my reasons to believe so, if you know anything please tell me now cause I am much closer finding the Octoling than you think."

_'No, you are much closer than you think.'_  Kal thought to himself, after all Victoria was hiding on the other side of the very same couch that Neon was sitting on. "Sorry I don't know anything." Kal said.

Neon picked up the helmet on Kal's table, the one that Victoria was wearing when she came inside.

"Yours?"

"Yeah."

"It's the same color that the girl from yesterday was wearing, what was her name? Victoria?"

"You got that right."

"Okay look, i'll cut to the chase, I think you know much more than what you are telling me."

Kal suddenly had a bad feeling about this "Why is that?" he asked.

"Well first of all you showed up out of nowhere with a girl, and I don't see you as the type of guy who can normally speak to girls."

Those words hurt like an arrow to the chest, making Kalus flinch.

"But then I noticed that you were not yourself that day, normally you seem so cheerful, but on that day you were nervous, so I made that joke about you taking every opportunity you could get and I saw you blush, that made me think that you had a crush on her or something. But then came the news report, you watched it right?"

"No I didn't" Kal replied

Neon continued "Well on that report the Squid sisters said that the unconscious Inkling was alive and well, he claims to have been attacked by an Octoling wearing a Satin jacket, the same one that the helmet girl was wearing, then there was you, you said that you weren't feeling well yesterday yet you were perfectly healthy the day before, that made me wonder if you were doing something behind our backs, then I recalled the events of the previous day; the first day of the lockdown, that's what led me here."

"What do you mean?" Kal was as worried as ever.

"When you first saw me that day, you asked "How did the Octoling hunt go?" but then you said that you hadn't watched the news that day, so how could you have known it was an Octoling in Inkopolis? I think I know the answer to that!"

_'Oh no!'_  Kal thought to himself

At this moment Victoria felt something pressed against the back of her head.

"Found youuuuu!" Neon said in a cheerful tone.

**Inker's house**

Sky rang the doorbell several times, this was an emergency!

Inker answered the door

"Inker, quick I need your help!"

"Whoa whoa calm down, what's going on?"

"It's Neon, I think she's lost her mind, she handed me this and told me to give it to Inkopolis News Studio."

Sky handed Inker a letter

It was Neon's writing: I have found an Octarian in Inkopolis, it is an Octoling being protected by a red Inkling named Kalus, he lives at 106 Squiddingwood gate I'm going there now to splat em.

"Oh no, this is bad."

"Tell me about it, what should we do? do you think she is okay?"

"That's not what I'm worried about, give me a second I'll be right back!"

Inker ran upstairs, messaged Callie and Marie, put on his Hero Suit, and grabbed the Hero Shot.

"Okay Sky, promise me you won't tell anyone about what you saw."

"Okay sure I guess, What's going on, and what kind of gear is that?"

"I'll explain later, we gotta get to Kal's house, oh and don't freak out when help arrives!"

Inker hurried for Kal's house, followed by a very confused Sky, it wasn't long before they were joined by two more Inklings, both dressed in clothing that Sky had never seen before.

* * *

**Kal's House**

This was bad, Neon had found Victoria.

"Dammit what should I do now?!" Kal thought.

Victoria smacked the barrel of Neon's Splatterscope aside, she got up in a panic, she grabbed Neon's Splatterscope and pushed it sideways, making the first shot miss. Neon wasn't messing around, she kicked Victoria away and began charging another shot.

However Kal jumped in between the two before Neon could fire again, he spread his arms out so that Neon could not reach Victoria.

"Move out of the way Kal!"

"Neon think first, this isn't Turf wars, if you get splatted you won't come back."

"Ohh I'm not the one who is about to get splatted! Now move!"

"No, you need to calm down, I miss playing Turf wars too, but what you are doing is crazy."

"It is not crazy, I'm making Inkopolis safe again."

"By executing an unarmed Octoling?!"

"Quit protecting your girlfriend there's many more squid in the sea, now step aside!"

"I won't! You need to calm down, you are not well!"

"I will be once the lockdown is over, NOW MOVE!"

"I won't let you do this."

"MOVE OR I'LL BLAST YOU TOO!" Neon was hysterical, sure she was never considered normal (No one who loved fighting would be) but at this point she was out of control, without ranked battles, Splatfests, or any kind of match, Neon had been bored out of her mind, she now had nothing else to do other than flushing the Octarians out of Inkopolis by any means necessary.

_'Is this really happening? Am I going to get shot by my own friend, while protecting a sworn enemy of my race?'_  Kal wasn't sure what to do, he didn't want Victoria to get hurt, not after everything she has been through, but he didn't want to die either.  _'If I don't stand aside i'm done for, but if I do then I won't be able to forgive myself, what should I do? what should I do?'_

The door flew open, (good thing Kal didn't lock it)

"Neon stop that!" Sky yelled.

Neon, Kal and Victoria turned to see Sky running in, followed by three other Inklings each with their own version of the Hero suit.

The three Hero suit wearing Inklings ran in front of Kal and Victoria, forming a wall between them and Neon, the shortest one spoke to him without turning around.

"Are you two alright?" They recognized the voice, it was Inker.

There were now four Inklings standing against Neon, Kalus was unarmed, but the three newcomers each had their own weapon, a Hero Shot, Hero Roller, and Hero Charger.

"Inker?! Don't tell me you've fallen for this honeytrap as well?" Neon said recognizing her friend.

"You need to calm down Neon, we won't let you hurt our guest."

"Are you saying to brought this Octoling here?! And who are these two others your hangin' out with?!"

In response the magenta Inkling removed her shades, while the green one pulled down her mask.

"No way… You have gotta be squiddin' me." Neon said, shocked.

It was the famous squid sisters; Callie and Marie.

"Don't get to excited now, we don't want a horde of fans coming in here!" Callie said jokingly

"I'll just leave if they do." Marie said in response.

"Neon please reconsider this, you are about to shoot someone in cold ink just because you are bored, how do you think people will react to this and I'm not just talking about Inklings." Inker tried to calm Neon down.

Perhaps it was the shock from seeing the squid sisters, or maybe it was the sight of them, along with Kal and Inker shielding an Octoling with their bodies, but Neon had begun to calm down.

"So all of you are in kahoots huh? Is that why you always ran off saying emergency? You were doing something with celebrities and Octarians?" Neon asked

"We were enemies before, but that doesn't mean we need to keep it that way."

Neon looked at Callie, then Inker, then Marie, then Kal, and finally at her target Victoria standing behind the four Inklings.

"All four of you are protecting her?"

Inker nodded, and nobody disagreed.

Another moment of silence passed

"Come on Neon don't do this." Sky whispered

"Come on Neon there's another way."

"ARRRGHHHH!" Neon yelled as she released her Splatterscope's charge, the Ink hit the ground harmlessly, she threw her weapon down in anger then kicked it across the room.

"Fine! But you better get her out of here by the end of this week, and don't let me see you again! Any of you!" she said, pointing at Kal, Inker, and Victoria.

Neon took a deep breath

"DAMMIT ALL!" she yelled one last time before picking up her Splatterscope and leaving, slamming the door behind her.

Kal and Victoria sank to their knees breathing a sigh of relief.

"You guys got here just in time." Kal said.

Sky and Inker looked outside to see Neon stomping away.

"I got this, don't worry." Sky said before running after her.

Kal turned his attention to the celebrities standing in his home.

"Are you really Callie and Marie, The Callie and Marie!?"

"The ones and only." Callie said "though you probably shouldn't tell anyone about this."

"Not like anyone would believe him." Marie said

"Hey, thanks for the help Agents 1 and 2." Inker said

"No problem, though we are on a tight schedule so we gotta go now."

"Wait!" Kal said, suddenly getting the strength to stand back up and run upstairs, he came back down with a poster of the squid sisters. "Can I get your autographs please?"

Callie and Inker laughed.

"Of course" Marie said

"Well everything is fine now so i'm going home, bye Kal." Inker said

The three agents left, not before hiding their faces again of course.

Kal stood in the middle of his living room, looking happily at the squid sisters' autographs, he suddenly felt someone hugging him, it was Victoria.

When Neon had been talking about finding the intruders she had prepared herself for the worst, but she never expected Kal to quite literally jump to her defense.

"Thanks, what you did was extremely brave and selfless, I can't thank you enough." Victoria sounded like she might break into tears at any moment.

Kalus laughed a bit and said "Hey, what happened to being an edgy, tough as nails soldier?"

Victoria's voice snapped back to normal "Shut up, soldiers have emotions too."

"I know." Kal said "After hearing your story, I think you deserve another chance, your life was bad enough before this all happened..."

"Really, I thought I didn't deserve your forgiveness, and after everything I had done too, thank you, thank you very much."

Victoria let go of Kal, she put on her helmet and prepared to go back to Inker's house, halfway out the door she turned and said "You know you're not half as bad as I first thought."

Kalus smiled "and neither are you."


	5. Army at the Door

**Octo Valley**

Cap'n Cuttlefish spent his days right outside the entrance to Octo Valley, some called him paranoid, but others pointed out his many successes in the past. The old Cap'n now lived in a small shack near a Manhole that connected Inkopolis Plaza to Octo Valley, it was nice and quiet location which provided access to the Octarians' Kettles, meaning the Cap'n could work on his conspiracy theories in peace, with a good view of any Octarian movements.

Therefore Cuttlefish did not expect an army to rise out of the many Kettles, his first thought was "Enemy attack!", therefore he grabbed the giant Snow Globe containing DJ Octavio, who was waving his arms at the approaching army, and fled into Inkopolis.

The horde of Octarians tried to open the manhole but to no avail, Cuttlefish had sealed it from the other side.

Octotroopers shot, Octobombers bombed, and Octolings pulled, but still they could not open the manhole.

A few of them kicked and stomped the cover in vain.

"Ya aern't gettin' into Inkopolis ya Octarian harlots!" they heard the old Cap'n yell, enraging a few of the Octolings.

Sure enough they couldn't, Cuttlefish has had years to prepare for something like this, no way was any Octarian getting through his manhole (except when he was busy sleeping). Eventually the Octarian army swam back to their lairs, leaving only a few low ranking Octotroopers to wait and see if the Cap'n would try and come back.

* * *

"Any luck?" one Octotrooper asked another.

"Nope it's still sealed shut, I doubt anyone will be coming through here."

"Darn, Octavia isn't going to like that."

Ever since they had received that distress signal the Octarian army had been trying to breach the Manhole connecting to Inkopolis, however Cap'n Cuttlefish had noticed their movements and escaped back into Inkopolis, taking DJ Octavio's snow globe with him, and sealing the manhole shut from the other side, this made their rescue mission impossible.

"Report."

An Octoling with black hair and seaweed on her head appeared, she was the one in charge, those who were familiar with her look knew that she was one of the Elite Octolings, she had arrived to check on their progress.

Both troopers shook their heads

"We don't have the necessary firepower to break through, I don't see any way of getting into Inkopolis from here.."

The elite kicked the Octotrooper of his hovercraft and grumbled.

She then spoke in a serious tone "Well think of something, im not letting you return till you find a way into Inkopolis."

The other Octotrooper rushed to help his friend back up, then he spoke to the elite.

"Maybe you can try and contact the Octoling stranded in Inkopolis? For all we know the manhole is sealed from the other side, maybe she could open it?"

"Don't be ridiculous, she is busy hiding from those horrible inklings as well as trying to steal the Great Zapfish, you think she could spare the time to open this manhole for us?!" the Elite said, she spoke without hesitation and with barely a moment to think, from the way she spoke one could deduce that she was a combat veteran with a lot of self confidence born from live battle experience.

"Sorry ma'am, I wasn't thinking."

"Damn right your sorry, look use any weapon we have, just be ready to storm Inkopolis as soon as Victoria contacts us again."

"What if she doesn't."

"Then assume the worst, that she is either captured or reduced to a puddle of ink, regardless I want to have a chance at extracting her, she will likely have useful information on the Inkling army after being in Inkopolis for so long."

"Wait, so if she can't contact us again we should abandon and go back to our lairs?"

"No you imbeciles, if she doesn't then I want to storm inkopolis and find out what happened! We lost an entire unit and she was the last survivor, we have a duty to fulfill for our people, no Octarian left behind."

"Wait if we storming into Inkopolis shouldn't we try and find DJ Octavio as well?"

"He is the secondary objective, we have no idea where he is being held so unless we happen to run into him, then we will only go in looking for Victoria."

"DJ Octavio is secondary?!"

"Yes you heard me, if any of you have doubts tell me now, if not then get back to work, I'm going to assemble the rest of the army."

Both Octotroopers remained silent.

"Good, like I said our entire arsenal is at your disposal, do whatever it takes to break though."

"Aye aye Octavia."

The elite glared at the Trooper who had dared utter her name so casually.

"Oops, I mean, Yes ma'am!"

The elite then walked away.

"Paah what a prick, she is only leading the remains of the army cause she was born with more limbs than us." one of the Octotroopers began once the elite known as Octavia was out of earshot.

His fellow Octotrooper agreed "Yeah, I bet she purposely doesn't want us going after Octavio so that she can lead in his stead."

"She might abuse the chain of command but at least she is right about one thing, we shouldn't leave an Octarian behind."

"I hope someone takes that chain of command and hangs her with it."

"Alright back to work, call Kevin, let's see if an Octostriker can blast though."

* * *

**Inkopolis, Inker's home**

Inker had just gotten home from the incident in Kal's home when Cap'n Cuttlefish messaged him, telling him that he was back in Inkopolis as his shack was overrun by the Octarian army.

Inker immediately asked if DJ Octavio was released, surprisingly the old captain had managed to escape while carrying DJ Octavio's snow globe with him (good thing Inklings have no bones).

While he was relieved that he wouldn't have to fight DJ Octavio again he was worried, he had never told him about Victoria, and now with an army of Octarians at Inkopolis' entrance there was no way that the Cap'n would allow Victoria back into Octo Valley.

What was supposed to be a simple act of kindness had turned into a mess, he wanted to show the Octarians they they were not natural enemies, but everything that happened so far seemed to say the opposite, "One big problem after another." Inker sighed

Victoria knocked on the door later and Inker let her in, immediately he asked her about the Octarian army.

"Huh what about it?" Victoria asked

"They are trying to break in to Inkopolis, you said you contacted them before right? What did you tell them?"

A drop of sweat went down Victoria's face "Uhh ohh, I told them that I was is a good position to take back the Great Zapfish."

That wasn't so hard to believe, but would an entire army be put into motion by such a claim?

"I also exaggerated a bit and said that I had spent weeks fighting and hiding, that I discovered your weakness, and that I had found a way to free DJ Octavio, oops."

Inker now understood why an army was trying to attack Inkopolis, Victoria had made herself look like a spy with important information.

"Why would you say things like that? You haven't even been here for a week yet?"

"Look I was lost for a week before I wandered into Inkopolis, it's embarrassing okay."

"I get that but what about all that other stuff, if you go back now empty handed won't the other Octarians be angry?"

"Nah I think I know enough to satisfy them."

"If you say so, oh and by the way, you should think of what to say to Cap'n Cuttlefish, at this point you won't be going back to Octo Valley unless you sound really convincing."

"Okay okay I'll think of something."

That was all they could do for now, the rest of the day would be spent on less stressful and concerning things like: TV, magazines, and video games.

**The next day**

_"From Maire: Ughh, gramps moved into our apartment for the time being, he was saying something about the Octarian army taking over his shack? Does this have something to do with Victoria? If so please convince gramps to let her back into Octo Valley, Marie and I can't stand living with him, he plopped DJ Octavio in the middle of the living room, covered our wall with photos of Octarian movements and drew lines everywhere with permanent marker, worst of all he SNORES, (no wonder Octavio is so grumpy in that globe) Callie and I couldn't sleep all night. Please find a way to get rid of the Octarians outside the manhole A.S.A.P."_

_"Stay fresh!"_

Inker silently read the email on his laptop.

"Great more problems" he thought to himself

Inker then clicked on the next unread mail, a reply from Sky.

"re-How is Neon holding up?: Well i'm not sure, she is definitely upset over this whole thing after all she worked really hard to end the lockdown only for you, Kal, and the squid sisters to stop her. Just leave her for now, she'll come talk to us once she's recovered, in the meantime there are alot of questions you should answer so I'm coming over soon kay."

Well he would have expected much, with Neon and Sky being left out of everything so far it's only natural that they would have tons of questions to ask.

Victoria walked into the kitchen and sat next to Inker, glancing at the laptop's screen, she didn't have to read much into it before she knew what was going on.

"Sorry for all the trouble."

"Don't worry, I never expected everything to go according to plan."

"You had a plan?"

"Nope, I just adapt."

Victoria looked at the blue inkling, the one who was supposedly a force to be reckoned with, one who planned his moves and destroyed i=his enemies with utmost efficiency, he looked nothing like the one the rumors described. However since getting stuck in Inkopolis she has begun to see the Inklings from a new light, she understood that there was more to them than she first thought.

This would be the first step to peace between races.

Kal and Sky later showed up at Inker's house, normally Neon would be with them, they would greet each other cheerfully, they would grab their gear, and then head to Inkopolis tower for another great day of Turf Wars. Those days were gone for now, as all of them had serious thoughts on their minds.

As soon as Victoria was in sight Kal introduce her to Sky "I don't think I have introduced you yet, Sky, this is Victoria, Victoria, Sky."

The two waved at each other, "Hi"

Now that the basic greetings were done they could talk about more important things.

However as soon as they sat down Sky unleashed a barrage of questions.

"How did you know the squid sisters? Why are you protecting an Octoling? Has she been here more the lockdown? What was that fresh looking outfit you wore yesterday? What weapon were you using? Did you have a crush on Victoria? When are you ending the lockdown?"

"Easy there, one at a time please."

One by one Inker answered the young Inkling's questions.

He told him everything, his adventures as Agent 3, the theft of the Great Zapfish, the New Squidbeak Splatoon, Agent 1&2, Sunken Scroll #16, the fight with DJ Octavio, Kal's call for help, Victoria trashing Kal's home, almost allowing her to steal the Great Zapfish, the Octarian army outside Inkopolis and finally the events of yesterday.

"So now we got to find a way to get her back as soon as possible." Inker finished

"That reminds me; on my way here I saw Judd and the old Cap'n standing next to the manhole." Kal said

"Well with an army at our doorstep it's natural that the Cap'n would be guarding his manhole, only problem is convincing him to make peace with the Octarians, I doubt he would be willing to let Victoria through with everything that's been going on."

"You will never know until we try." Victoria replied

"Just give it few days, i'm going to talk to the Cap'n one more time. Don't worry, I promise that we will get you back to Octo Valley safe and unharmed."

"Or maybe we can break though at night while everyone is asleep." Kal suggested

Inker opened his mouth to reply but Sky beat him too it.

"If we do that we will also allow the Octarian army into Inkopolis." for someone who was the youngest of the group, Sky caught on pretty quick.

Inker left his house to go meet the Cap'n, leaving Victoria Kal, and Sky in his house for the time being.

* * *

**Inkopolis plaza**

In the busy Inkopolis Plaza one area was completely devoid of Inkling presence, this was because Judd had the authorities seal off the area around Cap'n Cuttlefish's manhole.

One could hear the faint sounds of Inkstrikes hitting the manhole cover.

"Give it up! None of yer attacks are goin' at get ya through that cover!"

Cap'n Cuttlefish then plastered his ear on the manhole cover

"Not even a dent! what is that thing made of?!" came the voice of an Octotrooper on the other side.

The old Cap'n smiled, Shellendorf's manhole cover was holding perfectly.

Not to far away Inker ran towards the manhole, completely ignoring the caution tape.

"Cap'n?" he said staring at the old squid who for some reason was pushing against the manhole.

Cap'n Cuttlefish quickly got back up "Ahh you are here Agent 3, good now I know this may seem like an impossible fight but you can do it! My old friend's grandson has some Rainmakers you can use to splat that army in no time!"

"Yeah maybe later, right now I need to know how long with that manhole hold?"

"It will hold for long enough sonny, ol'Shellendrof's designs never fail to push back the Octarians."

"If no one can get through then how will you get back to your shack?"

"Don't worry, I said no Octarian can get through because none of them have the proper equipment to unweld a manhole cover."

_'So it's welded shut, okay I need to find something that can unweld it.'_  Inker thought to himself

"Do you think the Octarian army is here for the Zapfish?" Inker asked

"Of course, that is all they want, what other reason could there be?"

"I'm thinking what if they are just trying to find the Octoling that broke in to Inkopolis."

"No way, they never even tried to free DJ Octavio, why would they come after some cannon fodder?"

Clearly Cuttlefish did not trust the Octarians to resolve the situation peacefully.

"Okay well i'll come back soon, just be ready to open that manhole."

As he said this Inker noticed the Judd was giving him a suspicious look.

The old cat meowed a few words saying that he wanted to speak with him.

"Umm okay?"

Inker and Judd walked over to the right into an alleyway.

"Oi you two shouldn't be here." Spyke said as he noticed Judd entering the alleyway. His right hand went behind his back, grabbing a Splat bomb hidden in the pile of Super Sea Snails behind him.

"We are minding our own business, you mind yours and as usual i'll keep quiet about your activities." Judd said.

Spyke relaxed a bit, but didn't let go of his Splat Bomb.

"What did you want to say?" Inker asked Judd.

"What are you planning?" Judd asked

The beings who inhabited the world before the Mollusc era once said: cats have a strong instinct which allows them to recognize one's intentions, whoever said that must have been correct as Judd had a vague idea about what Inker had in mind.

"What are you talking about?" Inker replied

"I won't purr-ry to deep into your plans, just get this, Cuttlefish knows more than you would think, you should trust that he will make the right decision when the time comes."

"Are you saying that I should let Cuttlefish know everything that's been happening behind his back?"

"Nope, after all I don't even know what's been happening, I just have a feeling that you aren't trusting Cuttlefish as much as you should, fur-real don't misjudge him, Cat-cha later." after giving this last bit of advice Judd walked off.

_'Not trust Cuttlefish as much as I should? But he doesn't seem to like the Octarians in the slightest.'_

"Well are ya done here, I ain't staring at cha all day and I have told ya before, I can't do anything with the lockdown goin' on."

"Right, i'll leave now, stay fresh!" Inker quickly left the alleyway.

Judd's advice really got Inker thinking, maybe he was dragging this out too long, maybe he should just let Cap'n Cuttlefish talk to Victoria and see how everything plays out.

Walking past Booyah base Inker saw Neon exit Ammo-knights with a new Custom E-Liter 3k, the two of them glanced at each other for a moment before going their separate directions, it would seem that Neon had not recovered from her meltdown from yesterday.

That didn't stop her from sending Inker a message via squidphone.

"I don't have anything against that Octoling, but I want turf wars back, get her out A.S.A.P."

Great, first Marie pushing him, then Judd pushing him, and now Neon too.

* * *

**Octo Valley**

In addition to the original two Octotroopers there was now an Octo-copter, two Octobombers, two Octolings, four Octostamps and a saucer carrying an Octostriker, each of them tried their best but could not open the manhole to Inkopolis.

Octavia came back, surrounded by an entire squad of elites.

"You can't be serious! None of you can break though?" she yelled at the lower ranking troops.

"Sorry ma'am, we tried our best, there is nothing we can do to open it."

Octavia raised a finger.

"You tried YOUR best, since that clearly isn't enough i'll try my best."

With a few gestures she ordered the army to form back up.

"I want all of you to collect all the fake Zapfish we have and bring them to the Great Octostomp."

One Octotrooper spoke up "But can those fake Zapfish even provide enough power for it?

Another Octarian voice her concern "What about the lairs running on that power, we bare have enough to keep them from falling apart."

"Can the Octostomp even get here in time?"

"What if using fake Zapfish damages the Mighty Octostomp?"

"What about all the citizens living on that power?"

"Can the Octostomp even dent this manhole cover?"

"SILENCE ALL OF YOU!" Octavia yelled! "I gave you an ORDER, carry it out!"

When well trained Octarian soldiers heard to word "order" it changed their behavior, they ignored their doubt in order to carry out their orders, it was like flipping a switch between soldier mode and citizen mode.

The Octarians carried out Octavia's order, gathering fake Zapfish from all the lairs. They had made the fake Zapfish as an alternative to the real things, but they could not produce nearly as much power as a real Zapfish, in addition to that, nobody had ever gotten a Great Octoweapon to work without a real Zapfish, however Octavia believed that it was only cause DJ Octavio never tried it.

"Once the Mighty Octostomp gets here assemble the whole army!" Octavia told the other elites.

These elite Octolings were much better trained than the rest, and obeyed without question.

"Yes ma'am!" they cried in unison before marching off.

Octavia listened to the sound of well drilled troops march away "You hear that Inklings?" she said to the manhole "that is the sound of Octarian superiority, you can't hide in your precious city for long, we will take back those Zapfish soon enough."

"Quit ya blubbering, you haven't even managed to stop a single agent yet, what make ya think you can take on all of us?" Cap'n Cuttlefish taunted from the other side.

"You can't win em all, keep that in mind, this is our time, those Zapfish belong to us and nobody else! My troops will get me what I need to break through" Octavia shouted back

"Quit yer whinin', do you need one of your troops to change yer diaper too?"

Octavia pounded the ground in anger

"Ya aren't gettin' through missy, not on my watch." Cap'n Cuttlefish continued

Octavia calmed down a bit and stood back up before shouting one last retort.

"You just watch me!"

* * *

**Inker's home**

"Okay guys tomorrow morning we are taking Victoria to Cap'n Cuttlefish." Inker told Kal, Sky, and Victoria as he got back.

The three were busy reading his collection of Sunken Scrolls.

"You sure? I mean I just caused a commotion a few days ago, didn't you say I should wait a bit longer?" Victoria said.

"Yeah, and didn't you say Cuttlefish had some bad history with the Octarians?" Kal added.

It was true that he had said those things earlier but today everything seemed to be telling him to hurry up and get Victoria back: Maire, Judd, Neon, all of them suggested that he get Victoria out of Inkopolis as soon as possible, heck even Kal was pushing him a few days ago.

Peer pressure took its toll, Inker ultimately had decided to listen to Judd and hope for the best.

Even though nobody had said it Inker was ultimately the one in charge, simply because he had the most experience, and everyone trusted him.

"Alright, I don't see anything wrong about leaving so soon." Victoria said.

"Yeah when you leave our lives can all go back to normal right?" Kal said

"I should tell Neon the news" Sky said pulling out his squidphone.

"You guys should get a good rest, and we will meet up back here again tomorrow, I don't want to jinx anything, but the Octarian army outside Inkopolis may not be here to rescue Victoria, worst case scenario there might be fighting inside Inkopolis, or Octo Valley."

Taking Inker's advice Kal got up and went for the door for some reason Victoria got up too.

"I think i'll stay with Kal tonight, if you don't mind"

Neither Kal or Inker had any objections.

Putting on her Tentacles Helmet, Victoria left with Kal, and after Sky was done sending messages to Neon he left as well.

* * *

Nobody suspected anything when they saw Kal walking home with someone wearing a large helmet, maybe it was their favorite headgear? Who knows? The Tentacles Helmet effectively hid Victoria's identity.

The only person who recognised Victoria was Neon, she was waiting outside Kal's home, back against the wall and arms crossed, she did not carry a weapon this time.

"There's the couple I was looking for." she said as Kal and Victoria reached her.

"I told you, we aren't dating or anything! I'm just doing a favor." Kal said

Victoria on the other hand wasn't going to trust Neon easily, so she kept her guard up and stayed silent.

"Yeah whatever I still ship it, hey Sky told me that she's going back home tomorrow."

"Yep, you don't have a problem with that right."

"Of course not, without her Inkopolis tower will open again, but that's not why i'm here. I'm here for two reasons, first of all I want to apologize to her." Neon held a hand out to Victoria "Sorry for trying to splat you yesterday."

Victoria hesitated for a moment, after all she was looking at the Inkling who almost murdered her in cold ink just yesterday, then again the best thing to do now was to probably accept the apology, after all it would be a bad idea to cling to old hatreds, and she wanted to keep this Inkling girl calm for now, after all her first impression of her was that she often acted rashly, who knows what might happen if they started fighting here?

"Apology accepted."

"Good that's one thing taken care of, next I want to ask at what time are you guys going back to Octo Valley?"Neon asked

"Umm I'm not sure, why do you want to know?" Kal replied

"Well Sky said something about an army outside Inkopolis, if you guys go out there you will need all the help you can get."

"You want to go? To Octo Valley?"

"Yep"

"It's going to be dangerous with all those Octarians out there, in fact Inker is going alone with Victoria to make a peaceful negotiation, Sky and I aren't going."

"How could you not go? Don't you want to have a proper farewell before she leave Inkopolis, possibly forever?"

"I told you before, there is nothing going on between us."

"It doesn't matter, lovers or not it would be rude of you not to properly escort your guest out."

' _Its also rude to barge into someone's house and threaten to shoot their guest.'_  Kal thought but he kept that in his head. He looked at Victoria expecting an answer, but she looked away.

"Well you're right, I guess." Kal repiled

"Perfect! And I'm coming along in case all hell breaks loose!" Neon said excitedly

"Why are you coming, it will be safer if you just stay in Inkopolis."

"Come on Kal, surely you aren't thinking of leaving out of something so fun!" at this point Neon was shaking from excitement.

That's because Neon had always dreamed of live combat, Turf Wars and Ranked Matches were fun and all, but she really wanted to become a hero, like the old Squidbeak Splatoon.

Kal knew this, which is why he was hesitant to let Neon tag along, for all they knew she could charge right into the Octarian army and get splatted in a moment.

Then again if things did go wrong Neon would be a good person to have watching your back, she was an amazing shot with the Splatterscope after all.

"Are you okay with this?" Kal asked Victoria.

"Hmm?"

"Well you know, if things don't go well, Neon might end up splatting your people."

"No, things will work out, I think the worst has passed already."

That was all Kal needed to make a decision

"Alright then, since we will be meeting at Inker's house one last time tomorrow i'll let you know when we are heading out okay?"

"Okay!" Neon said "Well that's all I came for, good night to you both!" she then happily walked off.

"Do you think it's normal for someone to act like that?" Kal asked Victoria

"Taking pleasure in fighting? And having mood swings? nope, not at all."

The two entered Kal's home, tomorrow would be an important day, so they should rest up for it, there wasn't much else to do now except wait for for the sunrise.


	6. The Return

**Octo Valley**

The Octarian troops had been working non-stop all night, the troops that had been at the manhole earlier had gathered dozens of fake Zapfish, which they used to power the mighty Octostomp.

While some Octarians felt that removing the lair's power source was a risk to the citizens of Octo Valley the others silenced them by reminding them that one of their own was currently stuck in Inkopolis, with no one but Inklings around them.

Being stuck alone in a place like Inkopolis could only be imagined as a nightmare to the Octarians, therefore they were determined to save the poor Octoling who had mysteriously ended up in such a place, while they were still unsure how the Octostomp would break though the manhole, nobody had any other idea and therefore they carried on with their orders.

The only problem now was that unlike the real Zapfish, fake Zapfish were more like batteries, they could power the great Octoweapon, but only for a short amount of time. If only they still had a real Zapfish, those produced a steady supply of clean energy. "oh well this would have to do for now" an Octotrooper said as the Mighty Octostomp roared to life.

The ground trembled as the giant bipedal stamp walked towards its destination, slowly, on two tiny legs, since they had activated the Great Octoweapon the Octarians who had activated it felt relieved of duty and either ran ahead to report to Octavia, or went home.

"What?! six hours!? The Mighty Octostomp is supposed to be fast!" Octavia yelled at the poor Octotrooper who had brought her the news.

"Sorry ma'am, but it will take at least six hours for the Mighty Octostomp to arrive."

"Tell whoever is managing that thing to speed it up, we are not waiting six hours!"

"Sorry ma'am but its the best we can do without any Zapfish, none of the Great Octoweapons were made to run on fake Zapfish."

The Octotrooper quickly hovered away after this last sentence fearing Octavia's wrath.

The Octotrooper wasn't wrong though, every once in a while the Octostomp would run out of power, and it wasn't exactly fast either so someone had to accompany it all the way back to the manhole, this was done by two Octocopters who would replace the batteri-ahem fake Zapfish everytime one ran out of power. Not only that, but when the Mighty Octostomp reaches the Kettle, they would have to add more power to the Kettle to get the Mighty Octostomp through. After that would be another bit of slow walking before they reached the manhole.

"Well, this is going to be a boring morning" an Octocopter said to his wingman.

* * *

**Kalus' house, Inkopolis**

Kalus awoke to the sound of a tap running and the clanking of dishes, Victoria had been awake for a while now and had made and finished breakfast without him.

"Your up late as always."

"With Inkopolis tower closed I have no reason to get up early." Kal said as he grabbed a bowl and made himself breakfast.

Today could possibly be Victoria's last day in Inkopolis, all depended on Cap'n Cuttlefish.

"What would happen if he still hates the Octarians? What will happen to me when everyone finds out what I have been doing?" these thoughts coursed through Kal and Victoria's minds, they were lost in thought.

They were worried.

They were nervous.

They weren't the only ones feeling this way.

* * *

**Inker's house, Inkopolis**

"Today was the day to find out about if Cuttlefish is vengeful or not" Inker thought.

Just in case something went wrong he wore the Hero Suit underneath a Varsity Jacket, which also concealed sunken scroll #16 as well as the Hero Shot.

This extra layer of clothing made him sweat, but he decided to bear with it.

"What if Cuttlefish won't return Victoria to Octo Valley? What would I do then?" Inker shook these thoughts out of his head as he reached for his Squid phone.

* * *

**Neon's home, Inkopolis**

Unlike her friends, Neon did not know enough to worry, she was simply eager to help her friends, or maybe she was eager to get the lockdown lifted? Who knows?

Laid out on the floor of Neon's room was her old Splatterscope set and a new Custom E-Liter 3K.

Neon stared at the two weapon sets, her finger on her chin, pondering which one to take to today.

"I'm used to the Splatterscope, but this E-Liter seems better." Neon wavered between to two sets. "The E-Liter 3K charges slowly though and I haven't used it in turf wars yet, but the lack of a scope means I can be more aware of my surroundings, besides that Splatterscope reminds me of..."

This decision would definitely take a while.

* * *

**Sky's home, Inkopolis**

'Octarian Invasion imminent?' was the title of the news story on T.V.

Sky listened as the Squid Sisters spoke of a manhole leading to Octo Valley being contested by the Octarian army.

This was bad, Neon said that they were going to return the Octoling to Octo Valley today.

"Right now we have no idea how big of an army it is, nor why they are here."

No information on the news, that's bad, right now everyone of his friends were going to Octo Valley, he would go too, but not only was he new to Turf Wars, he was also not a fully developed Inkling yet, of course, nobody could tell, since he looked like a 14 year old Inkling so he was able to play Turf Wars a few months early.

But this was no Turf War, he wasn't about to run to his possible death, all he could do was wish his friends luck, and hope that they make it back in one piece.

* * *

**Cap'n Cuttlefish's manhole, Inkopolis plaza**

A large area around the manhole to Octo Valley had been sealed off by authorities on request of the old Cap'n, Inklings who passed by stopped to see Cap'n Cuttlefish exchange insults and taunts with whoever was on the other side.

To them it all looked silly, after all they could not see nor hear whoever was on the other side.

"I think the old Cap'n has lost it." an Inkling in the crowd said.

"He did seem crazy to begin with." another replied

"Nah, remember he was a hero during the Great Turf wars, something is probably up."

"Dude, that war happened a hundred years ago, do you really think that all of a sudden the Octarians will attack again?"

"Of course! After all the Zapfish was stolen recently right?"

"Nobody ever said it was the Octarians, and it just reappeared as well, it was probably some prank."

"A prank? Haven't you seen the news, there is an Octoling intruder in Inkopolis, and an Octarian invasion imminent."

Conversations like this popped up all around Inkopolis.

Meanwhile on the other side Octavia was pacing around, it was six in the morning when a Trooper had brought news that it would be another Five hours before the Mighty Octostomp arrived.

She checked her watch

10:00 am

Another hour to wait out.

"Grrrrr"

Octavia kicked the manhole in frustration.

"That ain't gonna work, unless you are trying to bruise yourself."

"Shut up you old fart!"

Octavia kept waiting and Cuttlefish's annoying voice kept taunting, making Octavia even more impatient.

"I think i'll go take a nap, seeing how there is no way you can get past that manhole."

Hearing this, Octavia stomp the manhole in anger.

Behind her several splatoons of Octarian soldiers were gathering, Octotroopers, Octosnipers, Octolings, all sorts.

Octavia imagined the Octarain army flooding into Inkopolis, it would be a wonderful sight to her.

"The first thing i'm going to do is reduce that annoying old squid to a puddle." Octavia thought

Octavia imagined that annoying Cuttlefish being gunned down by dozens of well trained Octarians, and got even more impatient, and began pacing around again.

"Come on, get the Mighty Octostomp here."

* * *

**Kalus' house, Inkopolis**

"Okay i'm all set, going to Inkopolis plaza now." was the message Inker had sent Kal

"We are ready too, see you soon."

Kal and Victoria were as ready as they will ever be.

_'Still I have to wonder, if Octo Valley is such an awful place why does she want to go back?'_  Kal thought.

He and Victoria had just reached the door before Kal spoke.

"Are you sure you want to go back?"

"What?"

"I mean back to Octo Valley"

"Of course I do, I mean, I can't stay here can I?"

"Yes you can, I sure we could work something out, you don't need to go back to Octo Valley."

_'Why am I so concerned all of a sudden?'_  Kal thought  _'It's her choice whether she wants to leave or not, so why am I making such a big deal out of this? Do I feel bad for her? Am I speaking out of pity or because of something else?'_

"No, I really shouldn't stay" Victoria replied "I'm sure it would be great to live in Inkopolis and all, but with all that happened recently I don't think Inkopolis is ready to accept Octarians into it's society."

"Yes it is, we aren't as bad as you think, nobody would mind if you decided to stay here."

"Are you sure about that? I would have expected you to want me gone quickly."

"I did want you gone, but that was before, I don't want you to leave, not after I heard about your life in Octo Valley."

"Maybe you are okay with me staying, but can you guarantee that every one of your kind will think the same way?"

Kal could not respond to that

"I'm sure some Inklings wouldn't mind, but remember that a lockdown is in effect, that I need to wear this helmet everytime I go outside and that your friend with the charger burst into your home and tried to splat me? these things tell me that not everyone here is ready to live alongside Octarians."

Victoria was right, Kal could not speak for everyone in Inkopolis, maybe someday the Octarians could move back to the surface, but for now there could be more people like Neon, who aren't ready to live alongside the Octarians.

"Inkopolis is a lovely city Kal, and you are lucky to live here, but for my own safety, I cannot stay, and if I could, it would be unfair to the other Octarians."

With that, Victoria left.

Kal took a moment to think before following her out the door.

The two were greeted by a cheerful Neon, who had been waiting just outside Kal's home, with a Splatterscope slung across her back.

"Hiya! You guys took a while, are you ready?!"

"Yup! Lets go!" Victoria replied.

"Inker is already heading for Inkopolis plaza, let's hurry."

The three of them went straight for Inkopolis plaza.

"Victoria, that was your name right?" Neon said

"Yeah."

"Do me a favor and forget about what I did to you a few days ago, I let everyone see an embarrassing side of me."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Exactly!"

' _Huh? Why Neon is acting all friendly toward Victoria all of a sudden.'_  Kal thought

"You two seem to be getting along." Kal said

"Is that so odd to you?" Neon replied

"Well kinda, considering what happened before."

"Hey, like I said, forget about that okay, let's just get her back home."

' _She probably just wants Inkopolis tower open again A.S.A.P so she is trying to help speed up the process.'_  Kal thought

* * *

**Squid Sisters' house**

"Too bad you can't live in water anymore, you wouldn't last a second if you got stuffed in here." DJ Octavio said, arms crossed.

"I don't need to worry about that, not when a single kid can defeat your whole army." Cap'n Cuttlefish shot back.

"Oh look, the great Cap'n Cuttlefish now depends on a kid who sleeps in and shoots other kids for fun all day!"

"At least we can hold on to the Zapfish for more than a month!"

"You Inklings got lucky, once I get out I'm making Fried Squid Rings outta you."

"Hah, make Fried Squid Rings outta me?! You can't even catch me!"

Across the room, sitting on their couch, both Callie and Marie were watching the two old leaders yell at each other back and forth.

"How long have they been yelling?" Marie groaned, she was someone who slept late and woke up late, so with Cuttlefish snoring at night and then yelling at Octavio first thing in the morning made her tired, so tired that she had to wear makeup to hide the bags under her eyes.

Callie on the other hand only had it slightly better, she was an early bird who slept early so when Cuttlefish began snoring she was fast asleep. However she still woke up to the sound of Cuttlefish yelling at Octavio in the morning, at least she was used to getting up early.

Since she was better suited to current events Callie was somewhat more energetic than her cousin, then again she always was full of energy.

"Well it's been an hour since he got back, i'm surprised that he can keep yelling for so long at his age without having a drink."

The two sat and watched Cuttlefish and Octavio's verbal spar until the doorbell rang.

On the other side of the door was Inker, followed my Kal, Neon, and Victoria.

"What are we doing here?" Kal asked.

"Well since Cuttlefish wasn't at Inkopolis plaza then he should probably be here."Inker replied

They had met up at Inkopolis plaza but Cuttlefish wasn't at the manhole, since Marie had told him that Cuttlefish was staying with Callie and her, Inker decided the best place to look was Callie and Marie's house.

The moment Callie answered the door, Inker knew that Cap'n Cuttlefish was inside, he could hear the old Cap'n yelling at someone in the background.

Callie invited the group in, Inker went directly to Cap'n Cuttlefish, who was still arguing with Octavio.

Cuttlefish felt someone poking his shoulder

"Cap'n!"

'WHAT!?"Since he had raised his voice when arguing with Octavio, Cuttlefish accidentally yelled at Inker the moment he turned around.

Inker flinched then spoke "There is something important that you should know."

He then turned to Victoria, who was still wearing her helmet, "go on, show him."

Victoria didn't budge

"Umm Victoria?"

She couldn't hear Inker's voice, her eyes were focused on the sight of DJ Octavio trapped in a snow globe just seven feet away.

Octavio eyed the newcomers, his gaze bouncing from the familiar sight of Agent 3 to the red Inkling, then the green one, and finally the one with a helmet.

Victoria quickly turned away when Octavio's eyes met hers, she wasn't so sure of what to do now.

After all DJ Octavio was known as the Octarian's lord and savior, almost everyone she met in the army was fiercely loyal to him, he would lead the Octarian race out of poverty, and restore the glory lost during the Great Turf War that happened years ago. Now, even trapped inside a snow globe, DJ Octavio looked every bit the mighty leader she heard of.

Victoria could feel a drop of sweat drip down her cheek, she could feel her heartbeat, she had never been so nervous before.

"What should I do? What should I do?" she wondered

Part of her wanted to just get it over with and go home, the other part wanted to save whatever bit of pride she had left as an Octarian soldier.

Everyone has heard of the angel and devil on your shoulder, one symbolized reason while the other symbolized temptation, Victoria couldn't tell which was which: expose herself in front of her race's proud leader, or hide in Inkopolis for longer.

Victoria slowly moved her hands to her helmet "Am I a traitor? Or am I a failure?"

She couldn't muster the strength to remove her helmet, she just couldn't not after all the humiliation she had endured; getting lost, wandering into enemy territory, seeking shelter from Inklings, and not being able to recover any Zapfish. She had hoped to cover up her mistakes by quietly slipping back into Octo Valley, everyone there knew or thought they knew about how evil the Inklings were, she could have easily made an excuse for being absent for so long, but now, seeking help from Agent 3 and Cuttlefish in plain sight of DJ Octavio? If he ever got out of Inkling custody she would not only lose her job, she would also be chased out of Octo Valley, where could she go then?

Not only that but the way Cuttlefish yelled at Inker for no reason gave a bad impression, he seemed like some cranky old geezer, he did not seem like the type to forgive and forget.

"Need help?" someone said

It was Kal, he still didn't know much about the Octarians, but he had heard about DJ Octavio through Inker, so he had a good idea about what was going on inside Victoria's head.

"Yeah that's the reason why im doing this" Kal told himself, trying to forget Neon's comments from before.

He began to remove the helmet, but Victoria was resisting, she was still nervous.

"Come on, you can do it, everything will be fine, I'm uhh we are all here for you, come on Victoria." as Kal said this, Victoria finally made her choice.

Neon and Callie were pointing at Kal helping and whispering about something.

Victoria finally removed her helmet, letting her Octarian tentacles show, she looked downward, not wanting to see the reaction of DJ Octavio.

Cuttlefish and Octavio were equally surprised by the presence of an Octoling, Cuttlefish took a step towards Octavio's snow globe in case Victoria made a move. Octavio on the other hand, only saw another prisoner.

"Meet Victoria, she was the Octoling who wandered into Inkopolis a few days ago" Inker began

Hearing her name, Victoria looked up and stood at ease to avoid being seen as a weakling.

"What are ya thinking bring her here?" Cuttlefish's tone was one of both shock and anger

"She means no harm."

"How can ya be so sure, haven't ya seen the news?" Cuttlefish was referring to Victoria's attempted theft of the great Zapfish.

"Crap how do I answer that?" Inker thought.

"She just wants to go home, her being here was an accident in the first place." Kalus cut in

Cuttlefish's expression changed to be even more surprised at the sight of a normal Inkling standing up for an Octoling

"What could you know about the Octarians boy? You don't look any bit like a soldier, have you ever fought on a real battle outside of Inkopolis tower?"

"No, but I know what we Inklings think we know about the Octarians, they are merciless, selfish, evil, right? But how much of that is actually true? You're the Cap'n, so you tell me."

It wasn't only Cuttlefish, but Inker, Victoria, and Neon were all speechless hearing Kal speak so confidently all of a sudden, they knew Kalus better than anyone else in the room, and they had never seen him speak like this before.

"Nothing? Well I tell you what I think, whenever something happens Inklings and Octarians alike only hear what they want to hear, I have heard the rumors of Inker that the Octarians tell each other and it is ridiculously false. Nobody wants to suffer, so we end up siding with who or whatever would benefit us, that is why it is so hard for us to believe that Octarians can be good willed."

"She attacked an innocent bunch'a Inklings when she got here, how can you assume she had good intentions for us?"

"She was scared and acted in defense, the Octarians see us the same way as we see them, if an Inkling fell into Octo Valley on accident and ran into a bunch on Octarians I am certain that they would have done the same thing, after all how could anyone relax when those who are described as killers are all around them?"

"Inker, do you have that scroll?" Kal asked, in response Inker took out sunken scroll #16 from his pocket and showed it to the Cap'n.

Cap'n Cuttlefish stared deeply into the picture of him in his youth, memories of better days past stirred in his mind, back when Octarians and Inklings played Turf Wars together as a sport, back when he was an amazing shot, when people saw him as a promising young'un and not as some crazy old squid, back when Octavio didn't start making that treacherous music.

"Recognize these two? This was before the Great Turf War, when there was enough land for everyone, Octarians and Inklings trusted and loved each other, but ever since that war a hundred years ago both sides have been accusing the other of being the bad ones."

Cuttlefish raised a hand to get Kal to stop

"Alright, you've said enough"

Cuttlefish looked at Callie and Marie

"What do you think?"

"We should get her home."

"Give me a moment to change, I don't want to mobbed while half sleep"

"Take your weapons too, I pissed off the Octarian army so they might attack you the moment you enter Octo Valley." Cuttlefish said.

"Seriously Cap'n."

"What about me!?" Octavio cried out from his snow globe

"Don't get your hopes up, yer staying here for a long time."

"Yo, how come, you never said anything as meaningful as that before." Neon asked Kal

"I never thought so much about something before, it kept me awake last night so I kept thinking about what could have happened between our two races."

"Is that why you were up so late today?" Victoria cut in.

"9:30 is not late."

"Yes it is, I was up for two hours before you finally woke up."

"Well good for you then."

"Okay for real, when do Inklings normally start their days?"

"Like 9:00 to 10:00"

"Do you not have a job to do or anything?"

"Not really, I make enough from Turf Wars to support myself."

"What is Turf Wars?"

"Come back someday and i'll show you."

"Alright we are ready!" Inker announced as he, Callie, and Marie came back, now dressed in Hero suits

"I've called my old friend Ammoses Shellendorf, his grandson is going to unseal the manhole to Octo Valley now." Cuttlefish said.

"What are we waiting for? Lets go!" Neon said, jumping up and grabbing her Splatterscope.

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza, Cap'n Cuttlefish's manhole**

Sheldon was called over to unweld the manhole, the sound of an oxy-fuel cutter rang through the ears of anyone close enough.

"How long have ya been keeping secrets from me?" Cuttlefish asked Inker

"This is the first time."

"If you had came to me earlier we could have got her back to Octo Valley before anything bad happened."

"I wasn't sure if you would let her go or not, plus she seemed to like the place."

"Really?"

"Yep, especially the Squid sisters' music."

"hmmm"

Meanwhile Sky ran over to greet his friends.

"You guys are going to Octo Valley?"

"Yep!" Neon answered excitedly

"But isn't it supposed to be dangerous? Why are you going with them?"

"Why not? I'm just as good as Inker in Turf Wars, so I should be fine."

Noticing this Inker came over

"Neon, you know that we probably aren't going to be able to fight the whole Octarian army."

"Which is exactly why you need me with you!"

"What no, I mean I don't want to starting a war with the Octarians again, so please don't shoot first, this isn't Turf Wars, we won't respawn if we are splatted."

"Awwwww okay."

Neon was suddenly less excited, it would seem that she still wants to be part of a real battle someday.

"Huh Sky? Are you coming as well?" Kal asked, noticing Sky's arrival

"Nope, i'm here to wish you guys luck."

"Luck? We aren't fighting, are we?" Kal said, looking at Inker for an answer.

"We could be."

"I'm almost done! Get ready!" Sheldon yelled over the sound of scraping metal.

"Hey Victoria" Cuttlefish called "I heard you liked the Squid sisters' music?"

"Yeah, kinda."

"Good, here this here squid phone is for you, take it as a souvenir or something."

"Why is this old squid giving me a souvenir all of a sudden?" Victoria thought as she accepted the gift.

" _CLANK"_

"Alright, the manhole can now be opened, good luck."

* * *

**Octo Valley, Cap'n Cuttlefish's manhole**

_Stomp, Stomp, Stomp._

The footsteps of the Mighty Octostomp could be heard as the great Octoweapon came into view

Octavia smiled, finally it was time to break into Inkopolis and give those pesky Inklings what's coming to them.

All around her, every division of the Octarian army were gathered, this wasn't just a couple dozen troops like they would have guarding a Zapfish, this was the remains of the Octarian army at full strength, Tens of thousands of troops prepared to move at a moment's notice.

"Ma'am, all troops gathered and ready to move out." an Elite Octoling reported to Octavia.

"Then make way for the Octostomp, don't delay it any further."

The Elite Octoling immediately began ordering troops to move, quickly followed by other Elites.

"Contact!" someone yelled as Seven figures dove through the now open manhole.

Octavia and the other high ranking Octolings immediately drew their weapons, their reactions refined by years of training, even the clumsier soldiers quickly did the same, they all reacted so fast they didn't even notice who they were aiming at yet. After a moment passed they noticed one of their own among the group of Inklings, some lowered their weapons, but Octavia and the Elites did not let their guard down.

Neon was the first through the manhole, having jumped through the moment Sheldon had finished cutting, she was greeted by hundreds of weapons pointed straight at her. On instinct, Neon reached for a splat bomb, as her Splatterscope would only down one at a time, however Kal was second, followed by Victoria, both of them grabbed Neon's hand, telling her to stop. They were followed by Callie, Marie, Inker and Cuttlefish.

Inker immediately noticed that most of the Octarian army would not fire at Victoria even if they can't hurt her with their ink, however the closest enemies were the Elites, who were clearly leading this army, the Elite kept their weapons primed.

"Easy now, we aren't here to fight." Inker said, keeping his hands in front, and stepping in front of the others.

He was quickly recognized by several Octarian soldiers.

"That's Agent 3!" somebody yelled.

Every weapon was then immediately trained on Inker, seeing this, Neon charged her Splatterscope, taking aim at the closest Elite.

Inker threw his hand in front of Neon, silently telling not to fire, Neon lowered her weapon and Inker began disarming himself.

Octarian soldiers of all kinds held their breaths, there was no telling what Agent 3 was capable of, so nobody wanted to be the one who fired the first shot, their bodies tensed as Inker reached for his Hero Shot…..

And slowly dropped it to the ground.

As the lower ranking Octarians sighed in relief and lowered their weapons, Octavia motioned two of her Elite Octolings to apprehend Inker.

The Elites approached with their weapons aimed at the others, Inker had already stepped forward and was a good distance away from his friends, as soon as the Elites reached him they each grabbed one of his arms and pinned it behind his back in a precise fashion.

Neon was about ready to shoot again, only to be stopped by Victoria, Callie started quietly dripping ink from her Roller onto the ground, in case they needed a place to hide, Marie also felt that trouble was imminent so she charged her Hero Charger without raising it.

Inker had drawn all the attention so nobody noticed what the others were doing.

The Elites brought Inker straight to Octavia, who stuck her Octoshot into Inker's cheek.

"What is the meaning of this?" she asked

Inker raised his arms in surrender, "Chill out, we are just here to return one of your citizens."

He pointed at Victoria, who was an unfamiliar sight as she wore a Satin jacket instead of Octoling armor, and held a helmet in one hand instead of an Octoshot.

Octavia was suspicious, but still motioned for Victoria to be brought over, two other Elites approached the group.

"Well guess this is good-bye." Kal said to Victoria

"Guess so."

"Don't lose that helmet, you will need it if you ever plan on visiting Inkopolis."

Victoria looked at Kal, half a week ago he couldn't wait for her to leave, now he inviting her back?

"I don't think I can come back."

"Sure you can, the door to Inkopolis will always be open for you, i'll make sure of it."

The Elites had by then reached the group, ignoring the ink on the ground, they took Victoria away, only somewhat gentler than how they took Inker.

Octavia knew how easily an Inkling could be mistaken for an Octoling, since the only Octoling in Inkopolis would be the soldier who sent the distress signal she would ask for her place in the army, that would prove her identity.

Victoria reached Octavia, whom she recognized as the commanding officer of Aceta Squadron, an Elite squadron well known to the Octarian population for their skill and devotion to Octavio.

"State your name and squadron." Octavia demanded

"Victoria, trooper third class of 401st Cephalo Squadron."

Octavia nodded upon hearing the correct answer and Victoria was taken away by a few lower ranked Octarians, who asked if she had any injuries.

"Well that is all, you can let go of me now." Inker said, still being held by two Elites.

Octavia glared at Inker for a moment, then smiled as a shadow creeped over them.

"GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Callie, Marie, and Neon all raised their weapons as the Mighty Octostomp arrived.

Inker began to struggle as he was right in front of the Octostomp and well within its squashing range, he had fought this thing before and won by dodging its attacks, but right now he was being held down by two Elites.

"You will pay for every Octarian you splattered during your campaign of terror!" Octavia said as she prepared to execute Inker with her Octoshot.

"Alright that's it!" Neon said before firing a shot at Octavia.

Most Octolings would have easily been splatted by such a well placed shot, but Octavia was much better than any other Elite Octoling, she flipped away as soon as she heard Neon's voice.

However Neon's shot left a trail of ink leading back to the manhole to Inkopolis Inker quickly transformed into squid form and swam as fast as he could, behind him, the Octarians wildly opened fire. Their weapons lacking the range to reach the Inklings.

"Octostomp, ATTACK!" Octavia ordered

The mighty Octostomp charged with all its might attempting to squish Inker and his friends. The Octarian army followed it, using it's massive body as cover from sniper fire.

"Watch out!"

The group scattered as the Octostomp planted it's face into the ground, revealing a tentacle on it's back.

Inker emerged from squid form, grabbed his Hero shot and yelled, "That's the weak point, shoot it now!"

Super jumping into the air, Neon and Maire each fired a shot at the same time, striking the Octostomp's tentacle, the Octostomp went nuts, twisting and shaking as Inker, and everyone else retreated through the manhole.

Cuttlefish, Kal, Inker, Neon, Callie and Marie each leapt out of the manhole, where Sheldon, Sky and Judd were still waiting.

"Seal the manhole again! Quickly!" Cuttlefish ordered.

Sheldon wasted no time in clamping the metal cover back over the manhole, on the other side, the Octarians climbed over the fallen Octostomp and pushed, trying to break through. It took all nine creatures present to hold the cover down, Sheldon then quickly sealed it again, blocking the entrance to Octo Valley.

Victoria made it back to Octo Valley, the Octarian army didn't make it into Inkopolis, and everyone was still alive.

"That… was close." Inker said.

"I don't think I ever want to go back there again." Kal added

Neon beamed "Are you kidding? That was the most fun I have had in a long time! Shame it ended so quickly."

Everyone shot Neon a glance.

"Hey Cap'n! If you need a fourth agent I'm the squid for the job!"

"Well sorry to disappoint, but we still got all our Zapfish so we won't be needing an Agent 4 for a while."

"Oh well, hey! Since Victoria is gone, Inkopolis tower will open again right!?"

Neon was being herself again.

"Yes, but it will probably take a day or so for the news to get out, don't worry you will get to play Turf Wars again by tomorrow."

"YAHOO!"

Inker went over to Cap'n Cuttlefish and whispered over to him.

"By the way, why did you give Victoria a Squid phone? You know there's no reception in Octo Valley right?"

"Yep but that's not the reason."

"Was there something on that Squid phone? A bug or something?"

"Nope."

"Then why did you do it?"

"Because you said she liked our music, when I saw that scroll I remembered why Octavio and I became enemies, see we both liked music, how it got our ink flowing, our feet tapping, our heads moving, basically our brains reacted to music. However Octavio saw a darker part to music, what could be used to get people excited could also be used to get them angry. That's why you won't hear DJ Octavio's music here, he puts all sorts of subliminal messages in them, so when he became popular, he used his music to manipulate the Octarians and made himself their leader."

"What does that have to do with a Squid phone?"

"Have you ever tried listening to two songs at once?"

"Uhh yeah?"

"Then you know you can barely make out anything from either song, music can counteract with one another so when you said she liked our music I figured other Octarians could like it too, hopefully someday the Octarians will stop listening to Octavio's propaganda filled music and stop seeing us as their enemy."

"Wait you also wanted our races to stop fighting? Why do you hate the Octarians so much then?"

"It's hard to remember things at my age."

Neon suddenly plopped herself between the two "what are you two whispering about!? Come on now's the time for celebration not secrets"

Kal looked around, Neon was overly excited, Sky was quiet, Inker was being secretive, and there was no more Octoling in Inkopolis, things were… normal again.

"You're right, come on guys let's celebrate with some Ink shakes!" Inker said

"Alright!"

"Sure."

"I'm in!"

"We have an hour before we gotta get to the studio, we'll come too, right Marie?"

"Why not?"

"You kids go ahead, I gotta make sure Octavio doesn't escape from his snow globe."

"Okay! See ya soon gramps." Callie said as she waved goodbye to Cap'n Cuttlefish.

"You know he can't move back to Octo Valley anytime soon, not with that army still waiting." Inker said

Marie frowned "Please don't remind me, ughhhh I'm going to become an early bird if he doesn't stop snoring."

"That's not so bad, we could make breakfast together!"

"But I won't be able to binge watch movies anymore."

Inker chuckled as he listened to the sisters talk, meanwhile Neon nudged Kal.

"You lost some expensive equipment and your girl too, how do you feel?" Neon asked with a grin.

Kal stopped for a second, he forgot all about the stuff he lent Victoria, aside from the helmet of course, she took a Satin Jacket, and LE Lo-tops.

"Well, it's fine I guess, everything is back to normal."

Sky cut in as well, curious. "What happened during the first few days of the lockdown? Did we miss anything?" of course we referred to him and Neon "Also how did you meet that Octoling?"

"Don't listen to what Neon says, we aren't a couple."

"I'm just curious, I feel like an entire story was happening without me and Neon these past few days."

"It's a pretty short story, but i'll tell you anyways. But first, I want to know your opinion on Octarian citizens in Inkopolis."

"I KNEW IT!" Neon exclaimed!

"Knew what?"

"You do have feelings for her!"

"Not the kind that you are thinking of!"

"That's not helping your case."

"You are going to keep whooping that dead seahorse are you."

"Until you prove me wrong, I sure will."

"There are some things you don't know, let's just leave it at that okay?"

"No way, tell me, otherwise i'll keep bugging you for years to come."

The others who had been listening laughed as they made their way to the cafe.

**Octo Valley, Victoria's home**

"You're back! You were gone for so long I was beginning to think I needed to new roommate." a Purple haired Octoling greeted Victoria.

"Hello Violet, it's been a while."

Violet then noticed the clothes Victoria was wearing "Wow you look so fresh!I have never seen anything like it before! Did you go shopping without me?"

"Heh, nah I was busy with other things, the army wouldn't stop checking my new clothes for bugs, what happened while I was away?"

"Another Blackout, a train derailed, and half your room collapsed again, don't worry I moved your stuff to the guest room, we can fix it in a few days. I heard you were in Inkopolis on some sort of mission, how is it like up there?"

"Oh it was great." Victoria said as she placed the Tentacles helmet on a shelf. "They have high quality T.V, fresh clothes, great music and food too." She pulled out the Squid phone that Cap'n Cuttlefish had given her "Listen to this." she said as she selected Calamari inkantation and hit play.

_**Epilogue** _

A day had gone by and Inkopolis' lockdown was lifted, Squids from all over the city flocked back to Inkopolis tower to play Turf Wars again.

After two weeks of trying Octavia and the Octarian army gave up on breaking though Cap'n Cuttlefish's manhole and returned to their lairs, vowing to create a new plan to take over Inkopolis.

Cap'n Cuttlefish, Callie, Marie, Kalus, Inker, Neon, and Sky returned to their everyday lives, as for Victoria she continued to serve in the Octarian army, this time with less zeal and hatred.

There was some controversy amongst the Octarian troops as to what Victoria had done to escape Inkopolis unharmed, some say that she didn't bother with putting up a fight and surrendered at the first given opportunity, while others argue that she did what had to be done, luckily for Victoria nobody really looked into it, all they knew, was that she had been behind enemy lines.

The Squid sisters' music steadily spread throughout Octo Valley, many were intrigued by these new songs and abandoned DJ Octavio's old songs.

And I am glad to have finally finished a story, this may not have been my first, nor my best, but it is the first story that I have finished and that is something I am proud of.

Thanks for reading Splatoon: Behind enemy lines


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